


Other Duties as Required

by Mainstream_Deviant



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! - All Media Types, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: 'oh no he's cute', Bodyguard, Fake Dating, Fluff, Kek is Yami Marik, M/M, Multi, Ryou happened that's what, accidental encounters, briefly anyhow lol, established deathshipping but then they realize they need a Yugi too, meet-askdamslk, post-cannon, surprise Kek is a surprise, this was supposed to be a quick crossshipping fic wtf happened
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:00:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 27,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24227002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mainstream_Deviant/pseuds/Mainstream_Deviant
Summary: One night while dealing with a clingy fan, Yugi learns several things in rapid succession:1) Marik's dark half is nowhere near as dead (or as evil) as he'd thought,2) Ryou has a very good taste in secret boyfriends, and3) Sometimes you can find new employees in theweirdestplaces."Deal with obnoxious reporters, play games with my friends, dance the night away, and maybe pretend to date me a bit if your boyfriend doesn't mind sharing" is a completely normal job description for bodyguard work, right?
Relationships: Bakura Ryou/Mutou Yuugi, Bakura Ryou/Yami Marik, Yami Marik/Mutou Yuugi, Yami Marik/Mutou Yuugi/Bakura Ryou, arrestshipping, cardiacarrestshipping, or as I prefer to call it CrossMyHeartAndHopeToDieShipping, unknown pairings are free naming real estate lol
Comments: 104
Kudos: 56
Collections: Fake Outs & Mishaps





	1. The Meet-askdflsdkfm

A happy sigh was overpowered by the thrum of the bass reverberating through his chest. It was easy to lose himself in the flashing lights and whirl of dancing bodies, and sometimes what Yugi needed most was a quick break from being the King of Games.

It’s not that he wasn’t honoured to have the title, of course. He’d kept that inheritance even after Atem had been pulled back from the afterlife, and he was grateful to be able to keep playing the game he loved and meet such wonderful new friends at every tournament he attended.

But still. Sometimes a guy just needed a break.

Along with the wonderful opportunities, his title came with a certain notoriety. Some days it was all he could do to get away from the damn paparazzi and get a minute to himself. But here, at his favourite club, dressed to the nines and signature hair colour half-hidden in a tight ponytail, he could skate by unnoticed for a night. The regulars just knew him as Yugi, and the rest were too busy being dazzled by the multicoloured lights to pay much attention to him.

And tonight, he’d doubled down on his anonymity by going out on his own. He hadn’t planned it that way, of course, he loved his friends more than anything, but it was almost impressive that everyone else managed to be unavailable on today of all days. Atem was helping Otogi playtest his latest invention before a looming deadline, and Jou was visiting Mai out of town before the next tournament. Honda was stuck working, a skype chat with Tea just wouldn’t cut it this time, and Ryou was always busy on Fridays with some Monster World group of his so he hadn’t even bothered. But it had been a rough week and he really needed to disappear for a bit, even if he had to do it on his own. So, tonight was his night and his night alone.

Yugi took a deep breath and relaxed into the beat of the song as it changed. He’d been dancing for hours, and it felt like that last of the week’s tensions were just about drained away. He smiled and closed his eyes, snaking his arms upward and letting the flow of the music sculpt his movements.

“Hey, aren’t you that famous duellist?”

There went several hours of relaxation. The voice was loud and grating. Yugi cracked an eye open, and saw some dude staring him down. He turned away, hoping that if he feigned deafness the guy would take a hint and leave.

“Hey. Hey, did you hear me?”

Yugi felt a hand close around his arm and snapped his eyes open with an irritated look. He tried to pull away, but the hand tightened.

“Hey, I asked you a question. You’re totally him, aren’t you?”

Yugi frowned and angled his body away. This was exactly what he’d been trying to avoid. “Let go of me, please.”

“Hey, no – c’mon, you gotta give me a dance first, at least. My friends will never believe this.” The hand on his arm tugged insistently and the guy treated Yugi to what he must have thought was a winning smile. It was a good thing Yugi was too polite in public to wince.

“No, thank you. I was just going to leav-”

“Aw, come on, you have time for one quick dance with a fan.” He pulled hard at Yugi’s arm, raising his other hand towards Yugi’s waist with the clear intent to pull him into a dance whether he wanted to or not.

“No, I don’t.” Yugi scrambled for a quick excuse. “I was just about to leave to go find-”

The stranger’s eyes lit up. “Are you here with some of the other guys? Aw man, you gotta take me along!”

Aw, shit. At least the guy wasn’t trying to grab Yugi around the waist anymore, but he was supposed to be _leaving him alone._ Yugi tried to look stern, knowing full well he still couldn’t hold a candle to Atem’s glower. He doubted this guy would flinch even if he could, though. He opened his mouth, still not quite sure what excuse was going to fight its way out past his lips.

“Well, actually, I’m here with-”

Yugi barely held back a startled yelp as he was dragged back by a solid arm around his waist. He couldn't help the little ‘oof’ as the back of his head collided with what felt like a very well-built chest, though. His addled brain still hadn’t quite decided whether this was an improvement or not when a low growl emerged from the man behind him.

“ _Actually_ , he’s here with me. And you should piss the fuck off.” The new stranger’s other hand reached out and neatly yanked the offending fingers off of Yugi’s arm with a growl. “Now.” The guy he’d been trying to get away from in the first place seemed to be stuck buffering as he stood stock still with his hand still hovering in the air between them.

Yugi felt the arm around his waist tighten possessively. Ok, it’s not that it wasn’t a very nice arm, attached to a very nice chest, but this was getting out of hand fast. Yugi tilted his head back to try to get a look at the new arrival, and barely managed to avoid looking as stupefied as the jerk who had been pawing over him a second ago.

This guy looked like… but it couldn’t be… they’d have known… but…

The man glanced down, catching Yugi’s gaze with his lavender eyes, and stretched his mouth into a huge, hauntingly familiar grin as he gave him the slightest of winks. “Right, Yugi?”

_…but what the ever-loving FUCK was Marik’s dark half doing here?!_

One of the traits of a great duellist is quick thinking and the ability to improvise with whatever cards you’re dealt. And Yugi was nothing if not a great duellist. He shoved the many, many questions whizzing around his head aside and straightened his back, glaring back at the creep who started all this. One problem at a time. “Right. Please go away.”

Yugi felt the low chuckle behind him more than he heard it. “Yes, please. Or I’ll make sure you recognize _me_ , too. And you probably won’t be as excited about that.”

Yugi shivered at the words. He still hadn’t quite had the chance to figure out whether he was being saved or doomed, and that didn’t help the situation much.

At the very least, the guy – and Yugi suddenly became aware that he hadn’t even tried to introduce himself, in that disconnected sort of way a shocked mind spits out random bits of trivia in an effort to not appear completely useless – seemed to have enough instincts to realize this wasn’t a fight he wanted to have. He took a step back. “Fine, whatever. I was just trying to have a good time.”

Marik’s shadow grinned wickedly. “So were we. So fuck off.” With that, the guy finally relented and tossed his hands in the air as he stomped off.

Yugi let out a small breath. One problem down. He shifted his weight in the other Marik’s hold, and was surprised that the arm was dropped immediately. He took a step back, and the two faced each other in awkward silence. Marik – or not-Marik? Yami Marik? – dropped the theatrical grin and let his face fall flat an unreadable. Yugi scrambled for what to say.

Yugi was still processing when the blond let out a low grunt and spoke. “You’re welcome, I guess. Don’t get caught by another weirdo.” Yugi must have continued to gape in silence for a second too long, because the blond shrugged his shoulders and turned away. “Bye.” With that, he swept away into the crowd.

Yugi blinked. And blinked again. And then once more, just to see what that would do (nothing much, as it turns out). He finally caught up with himself as the tips of the spiky blond hair were about to get lost in the crowd, and he darted after the man. “Wait!”

He doubted he was heard over the music, which seemed to suddenly rush back to full volume. Yugi scrambled forward, dodging elbows and sloshing drinks as he tried to track where the spikes in the distance were headed. He wedged himself between two couples flailing wildly on the dancefloor, huffing out a quick “excuse me” on the way by before trying to worm his way through the next cluster of people. Of course, no one noticed him to move out of his way. Sometimes, being short was exhausting.

He stretched up on his toes to try to catch another glimpse of blond, and spotted what he hoped were the right spikes heading towards the seating alcoves in the back. He ducked back down and forced his way through the crowd with fresh determination. Even if he wasn’t going the right way, at least it would be less crowded over there.

Yugi stumbled out the edge of the dancing crowd and quickly scanned the alcoves. His eyes caught a flash of gold. There. His back was to Yugi, but the look was unmistakable. Yugi scrambled up behind him, and reached a hand out to tap him on the shoulder before he thought better of it and held his hand back. “Hey! What was- ”

Marik’s shadow turned around, and Yugi got his second shock of the night as he spotted who he was talking to.

“ _Ryou?!_ ”

Ryou’s face lit up and he hurried around the other man to snatch Yugi up in a quick hug. “Yugi! There you are! I was just getting the story on what happened, and I was so annoyed that this idiot just walked away without inviting you over to explain, I mean really.” Ryou turned back to the man behind him. “Social skills, dear. Get some.” Ryou poked a finger at his chest, and the blond rolled his eyes as Ryou turned back to Yugi. “Are you here with the others, or do we have you all to ourselves?”

Yugi was starting to feel like his head was going to explode. “Uh –I came out on my own tonight, actually. I was trying to be low key.”

Ryou burst out laughing. “Well, that sure was a bust. Come, sit with us! You must have so many questions!”

Ryou cheerfully pulled Marik’s other half into the booth behind him, like this was no more unusual than old friends catching up over coffee. The two looked comfortable with each other – clearly Marik’s darker half popping back into the world of the living was old news for Ryou. Yugi settled down on Yami Marik’s other side, trying to sort his thoughts out into coherent questions.

Ryou sat back with his usual calm smile. “Well, you two must have all kinds of things to talk about.” He gestured vaguely between them. “Go for it.”

Silence stretched out between them. Yugi could practically hear the grating dial-up tone in his own head as he tried to figure out how to start a conversation with someone who was supposed to be a) evil and more importantly b) dead, but was apparently neither of those things at the moment.

Marik’s other self stared back at him a few seconds, and then his shoulders slumped ever so slightly and he turned to Ryou with a dejected look. “Ryou, just let him go and enjoy his night. He’s probably scared shitless right now.”

That kicked Yugi’s mind into gear in a hurry. “I’m not scared! Why would I be scared? You saved me from that creep!” The blond looked stunned at that pronouncement, and Yugi rushed to continue. “At this point, I’m just really, really confused. You haven’t done anything bad, and Ryou obviously trusts you just fine, so why shouldn’t I?”

Yugi paused when he noticed that the blond was starting to look rather… emotional, which was totally unexpected. This was so not the guy he remembered gloating over Joey’s unconscious body. Ryou leaned in and gave the blond’s leg a lingering, reassuring squeeze. Ok, so they were apparently _very_ comfortable with each other. Yugi stared at Ryou’s fingers lingering on the muscular leg for a moment too long before he’d quite caught up with his own thoughts, and shoved any half-formed thoughts on the subject of legs aside to figure out in a more private moment.

Yugi cleared his throat. “So, uh…. I had no idea you were back…um, Marik?”

“Kek.”

“Huh?” Yugi wasn’t even sure if the short sound had been a word or the sound of a clearing throat. Had he already offended the man?

“My name is Kek.”

“Oh.” Yugi felt somewhat abashed for thinking Kek was just clearing his throat. “Ok, Kek then. That’s… uh, unique?”

Kek shrugged. “Ryou found it in a book and thought it was funny. I like it alright, so I kept it.”

“Oh.” Another few seconds of silence stretched out. “Well, um… how did you get… um… here? With Ryou?”

Kek raised an eyebrow and the barest hint of a smirk crept onto his face. “We took a cab.”

Ryou elbowed him hard in the side, laughing. “That’s _not_ what he meant, and you know it. Stop being an ass.” He turned to Yugi and rolled his eyes. “He’s been staying with me for a while. As far as we can tell, when Seto poked a hole in the universe for Atem to come through, the rest of them popped back out too.”

“He’s been here that long?!” Yugi’s voice came out as an embarrassingly high squeak. “But… but that was _ages_ ago! Why didn’t you tell anyone?”

Ryou, to his credit, didn’t look the least bit thrown off by his reaction, and settled back in his seat like a professional storyteller that had just been handed the start of a particularly beautiful yarn to spin. “Well, you see, when they reappeared quite literally on our doorsteps – Bakura’s back too, by the way – ”, Ryou cheerfully ignored Yugi’s sputtering and carried on, “ – they didn’t really have much of a place to go, now did they? Bakura’s always been pretty independent, so he just buggered right off to who knows where – ” and again Ryou ignored Yugi’s sounds of distress, “ – but poor Kek here was at a bit of a loss, you know, since he wasn’t used to being a person on his own, right? He seemed tame enough, so I offered to have him stay with me to get himself oriented. And I did survive living with the ring, after all, so I figured what’s another strange houseguest anyways, but then of course as it turns out – _mmmph!_ ”

Ryou’s rambling speech was cut off by a large hand clamping over his mouth. Kek had been slowly worming an arm around Ryou’s neck as he spoke, and was now clamping down on him. Firmly. “Shh, you’re giving away all my secrets.” He used his other hand to stroke Ryou’s hair as though he were soothing a misbehaving cat, and then let out a bark of laughter. “And by all means, keep licking my hand like that, you know it doesn’t bother me.”

Yugi watched in mild bemusement as Ryou craned his head back to glare at Kek as best as he could, only to have Kek give him a wide, toothy grin and smack a loud kiss to his temple before releasing him and wiping his hand on Ryou’s sleeve. Ryou pouted at the mess.

“Heh, shouldn’t have licked me, then.” He turned back to address Yugi’s gobsmacked look. “Yeah, he offered to put me up for a bit. But then I decided I liked him. So I stayed.”

Yugi took a deep breath and let all that sink in. “So… now you two are roommates.”

“Who occasionally fuck.”

Ryou smacked a hand to Kek’s chest. “ _Kek!_ Stop trying to break Yugi.”

Yugi finally broke down into hysterical giggles. “Who occasionally fuck. Yeah. Sure, why not. I give up being surprised by any of this.” He shook his head. “But seriously, why didn’t you tell anyone? For that matter, _how_ did you manage not to tell anyone?”

Kek settled back, leaving his arm around Ryou. He looked more comfortable now. “Because people get scared of me. People who knew me back in Battle City get _really_ scared of me. It was easier if no one knew, so I stayed out of sight.” He stared intently at Yugi. “Please, keep it that way. It’s better for everyone.”

Yugi thought that was highly debatable, but nodded and let it slide for now. “Does Marik even know?”

Kek scoffed. “Of course. He was visiting Rou when it happened. That’s where the scar comes from.” Kek pointed to a small scar cutting a notch in his eyebrow.

“Oh. I guess living with him wasn’t even an option, then.”

Kek looked almost sad as he shook his head. “No. Besides, Marik’s all grown up and doesn’t need my protection anymore. No real reason for me to try to work that out.” Kek cleared his throat and looked away. “I’m sorry if I freaked you out when I grabbed you, by the way. You looked like you needed help, and the protective parts just… leak out, sometimes.”

Yugi gave him a reassuring grin. “You can protect me from intrusive fans anytime. Honestly. It gets exhausting, having to be nice all the time. I love what I do and usually I love my fans, but… some of them just don’t get that I’m a person too, you know? At least there aren’t any paparazzi here. That’s something.” He sighed. “Sometimes I think I should just hire a bodyguard and be done with it.”

Ryou perked right up and clapped his hands together. “Oooh, you should hire Kek!”

Kek rolled his eyes. “Your crazy is showing, Ryou.”

“No, seriously! It’s better than odd jobs.” Ryou turned back to Yugi. “You should!”

Kek looked ready to argue back again, but Yugi cut him off. “Actually, that’s not a bad idea.”

Kek’s mouth shut with a click. “You’re fucking kidding, right?”

Yugi’s mind was spinning, imaging the scenario playing out. “No, Ryou’s got a point. Everyone deserves a second chance, so I’d love to help if I can. And you’d obviously be good at it, you basically just auditioned.” Yugi gave him a cheeky grin. “Plus, no one’s gonna mess with you. Even if they don’t recognize you, have you seen your arms? They’re practically as big as my whole torso!”

Ryou burst into giggles and Kek blinked in surprise before a grin spread across his face. “Alright. If you wanna try it, tell me what I need to do.”

Yugi beamed. “For now, let’s just go dance. I didn’t get all dressed up to talk business. We can sort out details later.”

Kek nodded and Ryou beamed at Yugi as he started shuffling out of the booth. “Come by next Friday, we can get him through the paperwork or whatever then.” He hauled Kek out of the booth, and Yugi followed.

“Ok, great.” Yugi paused. Wasn’t that the night that…? Suddenly things clicked into place. “Holy crap Ryou, is he ‘ _the other group I sometimes play Monster World with_ ’??”

Ryou blushed. “Uh… maybe?” He shrugged. “Date nights are important, you know. And sometimes date night really _is_ Monster World!”

“Speaking of date night…” Kek wrapped and arm around Ryou’s waist and tugged him along. “Let’s get back to the party. I’ll keep the weird fans at bay. For now, you can pay in drinks.”

Yugi smiled and nodded. Whatever this was about to be, it would certainly be interesting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is finished, and will update weekly until it's all up. :)
> 
> Fun fact: A Yugi/YM/Ryou relationship tag didn't seem to exist at all until this Rare Pair collection got to it. Now there's two of 'em. Good job, Rare Pair team!! 
> 
> I welcome and adore all forms of feedback, from a guest Kudos to writing a literary analysis essay that would make your high school English teacher proud, whether you find this ten minutes or ten years after it's posted. I love talking to reviewers, so go ahead and poke at me. :)
> 
> I can also be found on [ Tumblr ](https://mainstream-deviant.tumblr.com/).


	2. Plans in Motion

Yugi approached Ryou’s front door with a vague feeling of unease. Not about Kek, oddly enough - he was feeling bad about how long it had been since he visited Ryou in his home. After all, if he had he probably would have known about their situation ages ago. Even though the game shop had become the group’s gathering place by default, that still wasn’t any excuse to neglect a friend like that. Yugi took a deep breath and knocked.

Ryou’s smiling face appeared at the door in no time. “Yugi! Come in! I’ve just put the kettle on for some tea, but you might be able to convince Kek to spare you a beer, if you prefer. He’s in the shower just now, but he’ll be out soon.”

“Oh! Did I have the time wrong?” Yugi followed Ryou into the kitchen, feeling a little awkward.

Ryou rolled his eyes. “Pfft, no, you had it right. Kek just has no sense of time. I told him he didn’t have time to work out before you got here, but he was determined to prove me wrong. And now here you are, and he gets to negotiate a job with soggy hair.”

“Well, at least he’s already made a good impression with the boss.” Yugi shot Ryou a grin.

Ryou laughed. “Well, I suppose that much is true.” He flicked off the kettle and poured water in a waiting teapot. “What do you want to drink? You didn’t say.”

“I wouldn’t say no to a beer, if Kek’s willing to share.”

“Oh, I’m sure he won’t mind. Here.” Ryou fished around in the fridge and produced a bottle to hand to Yugi, who accepted it with a polite nod. “So how was your week?”

As they chatted, Yugi let his eyes wander the apartment a bit. If he had visited before this, he surely would have noticed that someone else was sharing the space. There was a small collection of free weights and other workout equipment in the corner, and several bits of clothing that were obviously too large - and not even Ryou’s style - draped on the furniture. Actually, now that Yugi thought about it, it was entirely possible that Ryou was perfectly happy that he hadn’t come over to visit for a while. It would have been so much harder to keep the secret otherwise.

Kek emerged with a trailing of steam, wearing only some old sweatpants and running a towel vigorously through his hair. He mumbled in the general direction of his navel. “Ryou! Is Yugi getting here soon?”

Yugi was surprised to see a wide smirk appear on Ryou’s face as he answered. “He arrived a while ago, _dear_.” Kek snapped his head up, leaving his hair to droop pathetically under the weight of the leftover water. Ryou laughed at the look on his face. “I told you there wasn’t time to exercise.”

Kek looked rather sheepish and quickly flung the towel over one shoulder. He ran the fingers of one hand through his hair, apparently in an attempt to get it to splay out away from his eyes and regain a few spare shreds of dignity. “Yeah. Uh, hi. I’ll just… deal with this real quick. Sorry.”

Yugi smiled. “Don’t worry about it. We were just catching up a bit. This isn’t exactly a formal job interview, after all.” And damn good thing too, because ogling a job applicant had to be some sort of illegal, and Kek’s chest was just as nice to look at as it had felt like it would be. Holy shit.

“Right. Be right back.” Kek fled the room.

Yugi stared after him, trying to sort out the mix of reactions that had caused. If Ryou noticed his lingering eyes, he didn’t comment. He shook his head and turned to Ryou. “It’s hard to believe he’s the same guy we knew in Battle City.”

“He isn’t.” Ryou shrugged. “Well, not really. Maybe a little. Humanity kicked his ass into shape.”

Yugi grinned and waggled his eyebrows. “In more than one way, by the looks of it.”

Ryou burst out laughing. “I can’t argue there. I knew what I was doing when I helped him put together that ramshackle home gym of his.”

Yugi joined in the laughter as Kek walked back into the room. “What’s so funny?”

Ryou smiled. “Life.”

Kek raised an eyebrow. “Right…” He wandered to the fridge. His hair was now at least partially tamed, but still noticeably floppier than usual. Yugi wondered whether it would spike upwards or lay flat as it dried. He hadn’t exactly been stopping to ask about his hair products during Battle City, after all.

Kek flopped into the chair beside Yugi, and eyed his drink. “What, you’re stealing my beer now? You sure got comfortable in a hurry.”

“Ryou offered.” Yugi grinned. “Also, I’m about to be your boss, so I think I’m safe.”

Kek smirked. “Damn right.” He held out his own beer, and Yugi happily clinked their bottles together.

Ryou looked delighted. “I’m so happy you’re getting along so easily. It’s always hard to tell how people are going to react to Kek.”

Yugi nodded. “I can imagine. I don’t know if I’d have been so calm if I stumbled across him in your apartment with no context, myself. Or in the grocery store, for that matter. But sweeping in like some sort of fallen guardian angel leaves an impression.”

Kek cleared his throat a little, looking embarrassed. Yugi decided to take pity on the man and just skip to more comfortable conversation.

“So – how is thing going to work, exactly? I need a bodyguard, but there’s no way you’re not going to be caught on camera while you’re doing that, so people are bound to see you…”

Kek seemed to relax a bit once they started talking about the job, and conversation flowed more freely. Ryou and Kek were surprisingly insistent on trying to keep Kek’s identity a secret. It took some coaxing, but Yugi was eventually able to put together that Kek’s discomfort about people still reacting to him with fear ran surprisingly deep. When they’d talked at the club, he’d thought Kek found it a mere annoyance; as something simply not worthy of his time or energy to deal with in others. But as they talked, it became clear that as he became more and more of a “real boy”, as Ryou had jokingly put it (dodging a sharp elbow from Kek as he did), the fact that he was such a trigger for fear and hostility had started to truly bother him. It was an isolating thing, to change so deeply but watch the world carry on as though nothing of him had changed. He didn’t want the reminder any more than he absolutely had to have it. Yugi got the sense that if their own meeting had gone badly, he may never have seen Kek again.

He was highly sceptical that they’d be able to keep Kek’s identity secret for long. Having to tell the rest of his friends eventually was an unavoidable issue. Still, he agreed that it was worth the attempt to delay it a bit, to give Kek time to get used to the idea of people knowing about him if nothing else. That way they could figure out how this was going to work out long term before trying to figure out how to explain this to everyone else. After all, Yugi could think of more than a few people offhand who would have serious concerns about his choice of bodyguard, if they didn’t have the context for it.

So, they plotted Kek’s secret identity. The name wasn’t a problem, since he’d changed it, but they had to do some planning around the look. Yugi had been watching with mild fascination as Kek’s hair continued to dry and levitate itself back into wild spikes. That was one question answered. The look was almost as recognizable as his own, for those who had known him.

It took a lot of planning, but in the end Yugi was feeling excited about the whole thing. He’d been getting increasingly frustrated with the rush of paparazzi at events, and even the occasional photographer planting themselves outside the game shop in the hopes of accosting him for an exclusive interview. Despite that frustration, though, up until now hiring a professional had felt just… a little to Kaiba-ish for his life, if he were being honest. And he didn’t want to seem standoffish by keeping everyone at arm’s length all the time. He just needed a little distance now and then. Someone to step in, as needed, to help calm things down, without looking like some sort of government agent.

So Kek was kind of perfect.

Yugi had been watching the other two as they sat and planned. Yugi doubted Kek realized how often he was giving Ryou soft, affectionate looks, and Ryou was quick to give Kek affection and reassurance with a hand on his arm whenever he got agitated about something. They were a weirdly sweet pair. A teenaged Yugi would never have imagined it was possible, and yet here they were. Kek was a totally different person than the madman they’d met in Battle City. His laugh was still loud and grating, and his sense of humour meshed a little _too_ well with Ryou’s macabre tastes, but on the whole he’d mellowed. Significantly. And the way he and Ryou played off each other was endearing.

Honestly, Yugi was a little envious of their easy banter. Too often in his life, people had turned out to be more interested in the intrigue of the King of Games than the puzzle of Yugi. The press, of course, liked to pounce on his single status and either promote him as ‘duelling’s most eligible bachelor’ or enjoy making wild, exotic rumours about his supposed love life (and Yugi had to admit his choice of fashion didn’t help with that, but they could take his belts from his cold, dead hands). Oh well. One thing at a time.

Yugi waved back at the pair as he left, feeling satisfied. They’d come up with a decent plan. Now all that was left to do was try it out. 

* * *

“So – you ready?”

Kek nodded, pushing his large aviator sunglasses back up his nose when they slid down. “Yeah.”

Yugi eyed him, feeling a tingle of nerves. Today was Kek’s trial run as his bodyguard, and he still wasn’t at all sure they’d manage to avoid a media sensation. Aside from the glasses, he and Ryou had managed to wrangle Kek’s hair into a messy ponytail stuffed under a black ballcap (a joint effort on Yugi and Ryou’s part, with only minimal hair pulled out but quite a lot of it springing back out to smack them in the face, with laughter to match). He wasn’t immediately recognizable, but Yugi still thought anyone who knew him stood a good chance of noticing the similarities.

“Hey, calm down, Mr. King of Games. It’ll be fine.” Kek gave him a wide, cocky grin. “It’s such a tiny event that no one will even notice I’m there, never mind ask questions about who I am. You hired a bodyguard to be _less_ stressed, idiot.”

Yugi pouted a little, but caught himself and quickly changed the pout to a little scowl. Kek laughed, and Yugi couldn’t help but join in. “Yeah, yeah, I know. I’ll try. I just don’t want to cause you and Ryou too much inconvenience.”

“Wouldn’t be here if we thought you would.” Kek shrugged. At least one of them seemed totally at ease.

Yugi took a breath, and put on his best King of Games smile. “Alright, let’s do this. You better go get in position.” Kek gave him a wink and walked out the door to stand a little off of where Yugi would be. Yugi took another deep breath as the door closed behind him, and waited patiently for the event coordinator to come get him. It really was a small event. This would be fine.

Soon, he was ushered out the door. He waved cheerfully to the crowd and gave a couple of quick hi-fives to nearby guests before surreptitiously looking around for Kek. He didn’t take long to spot. He stood behind him, a little off to the side. They had planned the positioning so it wouldn’t even be obvious that he was there for Yugi, specifically. Kek’s charcoal shirt and crossed arms gave him just the right broody and intimidating aura, and he’d already proven himself to be a master of positioning himself in just the right spot to encourage the more unpleasantly enthusiastic fans to step back without actually having to do much. Hopefully, he would blend in nicely as a member of the general security detail.

Yugi made it to the door of the venue where he’d preside as guest of honour at a small regional competition, and he was thrilled that he’d managed to deal with only the reasonable reporters and not get grabbed at once. He’d only seen Kek pointedly step in the way of one person, which was quite reasonable for a small local event like this. Yugi smiled brilliantly at the people closest to the door and waved one last time before he was ushered in by the venue security. That had been downright pleasant.

He turned and gave Kek a nodas he walked through the door, which was returned before Kek slipped away into the crowd. The event was small enough that he wouldn’t need backup once he got in. A perfect trial fun, really.

So – one event down, and no one seemed the wiser. Yugi felt a hopeful swelling in his chest. This could totally work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ Tumblr ](https://mainstream-deviant.tumblr.com/)


	3. The Reveal

They were few weeks in now, and Yugi was delighted and stunned. It was a busy run up to tournament season and his schedule was bursting at the seams, but they’d managed to make it through several events with no one apparently the wiser. It probably helped that the local fans were usually well-behaved. Kek had only really had to step in a couple of times, and even then just to… uh, encourage… an overly-eager interviewer or two away.

Yugi was on his way back to Ryou’s place for a gaming night. He hadn’t even realized how much he missed Ryou’s quirky company until this new arrangement of theirs gave him a reason to spend more time with him. Reconnecting with him had been as easy as playing a well-timed trap card, and twice as satisfying.

Kek, however, continued to be a surprise. Yugi never would have guessed there was as much humanity hiding in him as there was, way back when they’d met as enemies. Over their time working together, Yugi had caught him staring at his phone with a dopey expression on his face more than once. It didn’t take long to figure out that he would get hilariously flustered if he was caught looking sappy while he texted Ryou. Poking at him was a good way to blow off steam before facing the crowds.

And then there were the memes. They’d swapped numbers just in case something important happened at an event, and Yugi had assumed that would be the only time Kek would actually use it. How wrong he’d been. It wasn’t long after the first event when he got a picture of a ninja standing in the middle of a crowd captioned “first day on the job”. Yugi had replied with a picture of a wall of kuribohs – “#bodyguard goals” – and the next thing he knew they were neck deep in a meme-off. His favourite of Kek’s so far had been a tabloid picture of Kaiba taken at exactly the wrong moment captioned “when your big bad dragon loses to a fluffball _again_ ”. Yugi very much looked forward to seeing Kek’s name on his notifications.

Ryou’s apartment building had just come into view in the distance when his path was suddenly blocked by a woman wearing a crisp suit and way more lipstick than anyone would consider fashionable. Even before she starting insistently calling his name, Yugi recognized her as a particularly annoying reporter from one of the more obnoxious gossip mags. He pivoted to try to scoot around her, but was easily trapped and stuck staring at her Cheshire cat’s grin. Great. What he wouldn’t give for Kek to be on duty right now. He tried not to grind his teeth too obviously as slapped on his “genial King of Games” smile and prepared to fend her off on his own.

“I’m sorry, I’m not giving any interviews during my time off.”

“But Mr. Mutou! Just a moment of your time!”

“No, thank you, I really must get going or I’ll be late.” He dodged around her and started walking quickly up the sidewalk. It was a small blessing that even she wouldn’t dare to physically restrain him to get her “scoop” (which was probably going to be on his supposed love life, knowing her publication).

“Oh, but this is important! Aren’t you concerned about your stalker??”

Yugi sighed. “No, and I don’t want to hear whatever rumour is going around.”

“But you’ve been sighted with a strange man tailing you on numerous occasions!” The reporter was hurrying to keep pace, camera at the ready. Yugi tugged up his collar.

“I’m sure I’ll let security know to keep an eye out for problems at the next event. Goodbye.”

“But you could be in _danger_! Haven’t you even noticed your latest stalker?” Yugi was walking so fast they’d made it nearly a block and were about to pass Ryou’s building entirely. Enough was enough. He whirled around with a tight, plastic grin.

“Stalker, you say?”

The woman brightened up immediately. “Yes! We’ve run an exclusive article and would love to have your perspective!”

“A stalker… oh, you mean like someone who follows you around when you don’t want them to?” Yugi stared her down as best as he could, given that she was several inches taller than him in her heels. She didn’t seem to catch his snarky hint. She probably didn’t even think he knew what snark _was_.

“Yes, precisely! It is _vital_ that we discuss the situation!” There was no way her teeth were natural. Yugi would bet money they’d glow more than his favourite clubbing belt under black light.

“No, thank you. If there is a concern, discuss it with event security. They handle that kind of thing.”

“But your fans would be -”

“ _Ma’am._ There is literally no one else on this street but you. I am not in any danger right now. Please just let me go visit my friends in peace.”

She hesitated, uncertain.

“I’m not above calling Kaiba for security support during my off time if I have to. Please, just go. I don’t want any trouble from stalkers _or_ reporters.”

Yugi almost felt bad watching her deflate a bit as she turned tail and left, but the feeling of relief was winning out by a landslide. Sometimes it paid to have one of the most pervasive rumours about his life be that he was deeply involved with Kaiba, either as a secret friendship or as clandestine lovers. In reality they didn’t see much of each other without a duelling arena between them, but that was one rumour Yugi had never made much effort to get rid of for exactly this sort of situation. He watched her go until she turned down a side street, then scrambled over to Ryou’s building and punched the buzzer to be let up before she could come up with another brilliant argument to share with him.

Kek practically pounced on him the moment he got in the door. “Yugi! We’re trending!”

Yugi blinked stupidly for a second, and shared a glance with Ryou, who had just stuck his head around the corner. “Huh?”

“We’re trending! Look!” A phone was shoved in Yugi’s face, and he scrambled to move it back to a more manageable distance. Kek was practically bouncing on the spot, wide grin firmly in place. “I’m a stalker!”

The screen finally swam into focus, and Yugi saw a page from a gossip rag featuring a shot of him at their latest event, with bright red arrows surrounding a reasonably clear picture of Kek in the background. Shit.

Yugi was still trying to figure out what to say as Ryou approached them. “See, I told you he wouldn’t find this quite as funny as you seem to, Kek. Yugi is very concerned about his friends being treated well.”

“Keh, I’m not a friend, I’m an employee. Besides, this is hilarious. I’m obviously evil in all my versions. Fear me!” He let out a bark of laughter.

“You’re about as evil as a puppy at this point and we are too friends, so shut it.” And Yugi was pleased to see that he did, with a click of his teeth. Kek looked totally poleaxed. “Well, what did you think we were texting for, then?”

Kek looked awkward and shrugged. Ryou stepped forward and wrapped his hands around his arm. “Don’t mind him Yugi, he’s a little slow sometimes.”

“Am not!”

“Yes dear.” Ryou smiled sweetly and patted his arm before turning back to Yugi and whispering theatrically. “He’s friendship-challenged, but I like him anyways.”

Yugi chuckled as Kek growled and swiped a hand through Ryou’s hair. Ryou really did know how to handle him, that much was clear. He turned his attention back to the phone in his hands and refreshed the page, only to see the number of comments skyrocket. The article went on to include several blurry shots of Kek at various events, and people were flooding the comments section with any other shots they could find on their phones. Fantastic.

He looked up and waggled the phone at them. “This could be a problem, though. What do you want to do about it?”

Kek shrugged. “It’s a tabloid. We got a laugh, and now it’s over. If people start to ask questions, you can just tell them I’m an employee. It had to happen eventually. Whatever.”

Yugi scrutinized the clearest picture. It was very recognizably Kek if you knew what to look for. But maybe if you didn’t… He looked back at Kek. “Well, if you’re sure you’re not worried about it.”

“Nah. It’s just funny. No one’s going to notice anyways. C’mon, let’s play games. One of us has to beat your ass eventually.”

Yugi took a deep breath and tried to shoo away the anxiety twisting his stomach on Kek’s behalf. “Well, you’re welcome to try…” He handed the phone back to Kek, who pocketed it before leading them into the living room, listing off game options as he went. They settled around the board for their first game, and Yugi tried to shove the article out of mind. Maybe Kek was right. These things happen. If they were lucky, it would blow over with no serious attention just like most of the rumours that got published, and they could carry on just as they’d been doing.

They were not lucky.

Halfway through the second round (in which Ryou had agreed to team up against him, the traitor), Yugi’s phone pinged several times in rapid succession. And then again. It was a series of texts from Jou in their tournament group chat.

_‘YUGE! Did you see this? [link] YUUUUGE! Did you notice this guy?? Looks sketchy! Better call your ~rich boyfriend~ for protection lolol! ;)’_

Yugi looked up at the others. “We might have a problem here. Jou found the article.”

Ryou winced. “Oh my. Has he put things together yet?”

Yugi looked at Kek, who was looking a little too nonchalant to be believable. “No, but if it’s in the group chat, then- ” He was interrupted by a series of pings.

_‘Aibou, this isn’t true is it? You haven’t noticed this man have you? You are safe?’_

Yugi held up the phone to the others with a rueful grin. “ – then Atem will see it.”

“But he doesn’t seem to have noticed anything about who it is, at least.”

“Not yet. Give it a minute.” Yugi quickly tapped out some reassurances, along with some of the usual mockery they saved for the tabloids. “This might be about to get complicated. I’m sorry, Kek, we tried.”

Kek shrugged, looking a little uncomfortable. “Had to happen eventually.” Ryou leaned into him and Kek quickly wrapped an arm over his shoulder to tuck him more firmly into his side. “We’ll be fine. It was a good run.”

Yugi frowned. “Now why do you sound like you’re getting out of a job? You’re way too good to – oh _shit_.” He had just received a flurry of private DM’s from Atem. 

‘ _AIBOU. Please look at this more closely!’_ He had attached a blown-up crop of one of the clearer pictures of Kek. ‘ _Does this man not remind you of someone?? We should investigate this! Perhaps Kaiba can look into his identity for us.’_

Yugi chuckled helplessly. “How many minutes was that? Atem just recognized you – well, sort of. He suspects.” Yugi’s fingers hovered over the screen. “I think we need to come clean. I didn’t mind trying to keep things low key for a while, but I don’t want to lie to Atem. That wouldn’t be fair. We can explain – I’m sure he’ll understand.”

Kek scoffed, and Ryou put a comforting hand on his arm. “I think Yugi’s right. It would be worse in the long run if we lied about it directly. I’m sure it will be fine. You’ve been here plenty long enough with no one the wiser and no problems at all. And you’ve been doing a wonderful job supporting Yugi, as well. They’ll simply _have_ to take all that into consideration.”

Yugi’s phone pinged again, in the group chat this time. “ _EHHH YUGE this guy kinda looks like Marik, doesn’t he? Weird!’_. Yugi watched as Atem replied with his concerns and tried to come up with the fastest way to calm this all down, but he didn’t get the chance.

“Ah, fuck this.” Kek reached out and snatched Yugi’s phone right out of his hands. Yugi opened his mouth to object, but before he could get a word out, he was tugged into Kek’s side. “Say ‘King of Games!’” Kek snapped a selfie and held the phone out of Yugi’s reach, typing frantically as Yugi scrambled to get it back.

“Kek! Don’t kid around, this could be serious!”

“Too late!” He chucked the phone back into Yugi’s lap. His manic grin was back.

Yugi’s stomach dropped as he looked at the photo that had been posted. “Are you kidding me?!”

On his phone was the selfie – Yugi, looking startled mashed against Kek’s side, and Kek wearing his madman’s grin with his tongue curled outward in a mockery of his Battle City days. He’d captioned it ‘ _calm your tits he’s fine’_. Ryou scrambled over to see what Kek had done and promptly burst into hysterical laughter. Yugi’s phone went absolutely nuts. Atem sounded ready to send out the entire Domino police force.

Yugi scrambled to reply. ‘ _EVERYBODY CALM DOWN. I am ok. HE is ok. Everything is fine ATEM PLZ DON’T CALL THE COPS I CAN EXPLAIN.’_

He looked back up at the giggling couple. “Really? Did you have to?”

“Yes.” Kek smirked.

Yugi sighed deeply and ran a hand down his face. “Well let’s at least send another picture of you looking a little more sane so they don’t think I’m being murdered as we speak.”

“You’re no fun at all, boss.” Still, Kek held his arms open as though asking for a hug.

Yugi rolled his eyes and scooted over next to him. “Now try to smile like a normal human being.”

“Tough, but ok.”

Yugi shot him an unamused look before holding out his phone to take the selfie, putting on his best sunny smile and flashing a peace sign. Kek’s expression was still more smirk than anything, but at least it came off as cocky rather than homicidal this time. He sent it off. ‘ _See? New friend. Everything is fine. I’ll explain in person I PROMISE plz calm down”._

He clicked his phone off and heaved a deep sigh. Kek poked at his arm. “You’re welcome.” Between one blink and the next he shifted his expression to his best impersonation of Ryou’s cherubic smile, and the shock of it was enough to make the adrenaline of the last few minutes burst out in waves of hysterical laughter from all three of them. His life was about to get complicated, but at least it was interesting.

They were all laid out on the floor trying to catch their breath by the time the laughter finally trailed off. Yugi wiped the tears from his eyes and took a deep breath before sitting up.

“I still can’t believe you did that. After all the secrecy, too!”

Ryou rolled over onto his side and propped his head on his hands. “Well, we have been known to do some pretty impulsive stuff. I didn’t really think it over before inviting Kek to stay with me in the first place, after all.” The two shared a smile at that, with looks that hinted at fond memories hiding just below the surface. “That worked out just fine, surely this will too.”

Kek’s smile looked a little strained as he sat up and re-fluffed his hair. “Yeah. Sure.”

Ryou squirmed over and laid his head on Kek’s thigh and looked up at him with his unwaveringly calm smile. “It will. You don’t need to worry about it so much. They’ll adjust. They just need some time to catch up with things, that’s all.”

“Yeah, I’m sure it’ll be fine once I get a chance to explain.” Yugi smiled, and hoped it would be enough to reassure Kek a little. He may be pretty used to Kek’s new range of emotions by now, but it was still weird to see him looking uncertain or vulnerable. There was something deeply wrong about it and Yugi wanted to see it go away as quickly as possible. “We’re basically professional friend-recruiters at this point, I’m sure everyone will be happy to give you a fresh start if you let them. You know I wasn’t even all that keen on keeping this secret in the first place.” Yugi flung and arm around Kek’s shoulders to give him a friendly squeeze. “It’ll be great!”

Kek tensed under Yugi’s arm, but didn’t pull away. Yugi froze. Shit, was he uncomfortable? Did he cross a line? Yugi had always been physically affectionate with his friends, so he had just assumed…

Yugi was still trying to figure out whether he should awkwardly pull his arm back or not when Ryou cheerfully mirrored him on the other side, trapping Kek between them. “Alas!!” – and here Ryou dramatically put the back of one hand to his forehead – “you’re going to have to deal with more friends. The awkwardness of watching that of may kill us, but we’ll persevere in the face of all odds! We will- _mmph!_ ” Ryou turned sparkling eyes to Kek, who had clamped a hand over his mouth.

“Fine, fine.” He curled an arm around Ryou’s waist, and Yugi quickly wormed his arm away, wanting to let them have their moment. “Let’s just hope they don’t show up with torches and holy water.”

Yugi shook his head emphatically. “They wouldn’t. They won’t be afraid of you, Kek. Seriously, they won’t. I know you don’t want to risk dealing with those reminders, but it’ll be fine.” All he got in response to that was a one-armed shrug and a rather helpless looking smile. Better than nothing, at least.

The insistent buzzing of his phone forced his attention away. While his reassurances may have helped calm the chat a bit, it would take a little longer to get everyone on board with this. Yugi grabbed his phone and quickly tapped out another message to Atem, who was insisting on meeting up as soon as possible. That done, he shoved the phone back in his pocket.

“Well, I better not leave Atem hanging any longer.” Yugi got up to head to the door, and the others trailed behind him. They paused at the doorway, and Yugi cautiously reached a hand out to give Kek’s muscular shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “It’ll be fine. I’ll sort things out with Atem- he’s just overprotective sometimes. You know the type.” He shot Kek a little smirk.

Kek scoffed and rolled his eyes, but still gave Yugi’s arm a little pat back before wandering off back into the apartment.

Ryou put a hand on Yugi’s as he turned to leave. “He’ll be fine, Yugi. I think he’s just sad we have to start sharing you again.” Ryou winked and leaned forward to peck a kiss to Yugi’s cheek. “Good luck!”

Yugi blinked at Ryou and felt his cheeks warm. “Um, yeah, thanks. I’ll see you soon?”

“Of course. We’re looking forward to it already.” Ryou beamed, and closed the door behind him. Yugi put a hand to his cheek. Huh. Ryou’s lips were really soft.

Yugi shook his head and refocused on the task at hand. Random thoughts about soft lips or strong shoulders weren’t going to help with the immediate problem. Atem would be waiting for him by now. He’d better get a move on.

He marched off down the street, which was thankfully reporter-free, and mentally prepared himself for the conversation to come. He was confident he could bring Atem around – he just wasn’t looking forward to explaining why he’d kept something like this from everyone. Atem could still be annoyingly overprotective at times – which, ironically, was one of his main arguments for why Kek _wasn’t_ annoying. Life was weird sometimes.

It felt like he was back home in no time at all. Atem was waiting outside his door, and he hurried over to scoop Yugi into a tight embrace as soon as he was within reach. “Aibou, you are truly ok?”

“Yes, I’m truly OK.” Yugi squeezed him back just as tightly, then stepped back and smiled. “I promise, everything is great.”

“And yet, you are being followed by a man who once tried to kill many of your friends.”

Yugi’s smile turned sheepish. “Uh, yeah. But let’s talk about that inside.” Yugi led the way into the kitchen, where Atem settled against the wall and levelled Yugi with a stern look. It seemed that he was content to let the silence stretch out awkwardly as long as he needed to, so Yugi took a deep breath and let out a helpless little laugh. “I promise it makes more sense than that stupid selfie makes it look…”

Atem just quirked an eyebrow challengingly and crossed his arms. Fine then. Yugi let out a little huff and quickly relayed the basics of how he’d ended up with his new employee, starting with the night in the club. He left out any details about Kek and Ryou’s relationship. He wasn’t sure how public that information was supposed to be, and just getting used to Kek’s existence was enough to start with. Atem remained dutifully silent until he trailed off after the dramatic group chat reveal. After a beat of silence, he finally spoke.

“And you didn’t feel it prudent to tell your friends this was happening until a reporter noticed his presence?”

“I told you, they wanted to keep it low key to start. We were just trying it out to see if it worked.”

“Even still, it seems that – ”

“Atem.” Yugi was gratified to see Atem stop short. “I don’t need to run everything by you, you know. I can take care of myself.”

The gentle admonishment caused Atem to relax just a bit. “Yes, I’m fully aware, of course. I just want you to be safe. Marik’s - that is, Kek’s – past actions don’t instil much confidence.”

“He’s been perfectly wonderful, Atem. He’s changed quite a lot – it’s kind of amazing, really. And Ryou has known him for longer. He’d vouch for him, too.”

“I’m not sure Ryou’s way of determining ‘safe’ is entirely trustworthy, Aibou.”

Yugi laughed. “Maybe. And yet, Ryou’s plans seem to work out well in the end one way or another. I doubt anyone else would have been able to handle the spirit of the ring so well, after all. And Kek’s not even close to doing things like that anymore. I don’t think he’d even want to even if he got the opportunity.” Atem still looked deeply unsure, so Yugi pressed on. “And you saw him in the photos – he’s a force to be reckoned with. He’s kind of the perfect person to have on your side as a bodyguard, you know. No one wants to mess with someone who could bench press them, whether they recognize him or not.”

Atem let out a deep sigh and a resigned smile settled on his face. Yugi knew victory when he saw it, and grinned right back. “Very well. I can see that you feel this is for the best, and I trust your word. However- ” Yugi grimaced at the word. What _now_? “ – I would like to meet him myself, as well. Anyone helping to protect my Aibou deserves both my thanks and my scrutiny.”

Yugi rolled his eyes expansively. “You are so overprotective. You two will get along great, and I’ll never be able to so much as sneeze again without someone rushing to my aid.” Atem chuckled appreciatively, which only made Yugi roll his eyes harder. “Fine, I’ll see what I can set up. But please, please remember that he’s very different now. Be kind.”

Atem beamed. “For you, always. I look forward to meeting this new…friend.”

For his part, Yugi wasn’t entirely sure what to think. This meeting would be interesting, to say the least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone else wish they had a copy of those ridiculous selfies on their phone? Truly, one of my favourite moments. Kek, you ass. XD
> 
> [ Tumblr ](https://mainstream-deviant.tumblr.com/)


	4. Passing Inspection

A few days later, Yugi was nervously fiddling with the packets of tea he’d laid out on the counter. His guests were due to start arriving any minute, and though he thoroughly trusted them all to behave themselves, the sheer amount of awkwardness that was coming was making him cringe in anticipation. When there was finally a knock on the door, he startled badly enough to drop the packet of tea in his fingers.

Well, that’s it then. Game start.

Yugi took a deep breath and answered the door with a smile. Ryou and Kek were waiting on the other side. “Hey guys! You got here first, so you have a minute to settle in.” The fact that Kek’s shoulders relaxed an inch or two on hearing that didn’t escape his notice. Yugi gave him a firm pat on the shoulder as he walked by and smiled encouragingly. Kek’s grin back was more of a grimace than a true smile, but Yugi would take what he could get.

Ryou, on the other hand, looked as chipper as ever, and shoved a box towards Yugi as soon as he’d toed off his shoes in the entryway. “Here! I brought some baking. Sugar can never go wrong.”

Yugi scrambled to get a proper hold on the box and led the way to the living room. “Thanks Ryou. You really didn’t have to though…”

“Any excuse to make more cookies, Yugi, you should know this by now.” Ryou winked conspiratorially. “And Kek couldn’t even complain that we already had some, because these ones were for you!”

Yugi laughed. It was true enough that there was almost always some sort of fresh treat waiting on the counter when he visited them in their apartment. The box of sweets earned a place on the coffee table, and they settled around it to wait. Yugi and Ryou fell into easy conversation, but Kek stayed silent beside them. He kept glancing towards the door and shifting his weight as though he didn't quite remember how to sit properly, despite Ryou's comforting hand on his leg. Yugi and Ryou shared a look, but didn’t have time to say anything before there was another knock at the door. Kek tensed up, and Ryou squeezed the hand on his leg with a gentle smile.

Yugi put on his best game face. “Well, here we go – showtime.” He used Kek’s shoulder as leverage to stand up. He didn’t need to, but it was a good excuse to give the man another comforting squeeze before he left to greet Atem at the door.

When he did, Atem looked nothing but calm and composed. Yugi scrutinized him closely and tried to figure out how much of his calm demeanour was genuine, and how much was just muscle memory left over from having to appear composed at all times in his previous life. His old partner could be frustratingly hard to read sometimes without the benefit of their mind link. Atem gave him an expectant look and Yugi decided that it didn’t really matter. He gestured down the hall. “Ryou and Kek are already here. I’ve got some games in the living room we can play together. Oh, and Ryou brought some sort of baking. That should be good.”

“Sounds lovely.” Atem inclined his head and followed Yugi down the hall. For a second, Yugi wished that he lived someplace with a much longer hallway, but then they were standing in the room. All of them. Together.

Here we go.

Yugi tried to look as chipper as he could. “Well then. Atem, this is Kek. Kek, Atem.” He kept the sarcastic _please don’t kill each other_ to himself.

Atem strode forward with all the confidence of someone used to being in command of any given situation, and stuck out his hand. “Hello, Kek. It is a pleasure to meet you.” Kek glanced back and forth between the others before awkwardly reaching a hand up from his spot on the ground.

“Uh, yeah. Right.” He pulled his hand back and watched Atem with an intense gaze, as though waiting for the other foot to drop. The silence stretched out between them, and eventually Atem took a seat opposite Kek, leaving Yugi to sit between them. Yugi fidgeted with a napkin. This was worse than when he’d been the one trying to talk to Kek for the first time. Is this how Ryou had felt watching them try to talk to one another? Probably not – Ryou seemed inherently immune to awkwardness. It had to be some sort of gift.

Atem broke the silence. “Yugi tells me you’ve done very well as a bodyguard. That is… a change.”

Kek shrugged. “I guess.” Yugi waited patiently for him to elaborate on something – _anything_ , Kek, _please_ – but apparently Kek was tight-lipped around new people no matter how many desperate, encouraging looks he was given. The increasing pressure to move things along was suddenly lifted by a wonderful white-haired angel of a man.

“Oh, let’s stop reiterating things we know. Yugi! Games!” Ryou clapped his hands, trampling over the awkwardly stilted conversation with all the grace of an oblivious gazelle. Yugi had never been more grateful for Ryou’s lack of tact.

“Yeah, let’s play something. Here…” Yugi quickly pulled out a few of his favourites – Duel Monsters very pointedly _not_ included – and the group quickly fell into the relative comfort of the familiar activity.

Yugi watched everyone around the table as they played. The game was going well enough, but everything was still so… weirdly formal, he supposed. It was like watching bad actors pretending to be at ease, despite some sort of wild backstage drama that was leaking into their performances. All Yugi could do was continue to play and try to get the others to at least comment on each other’s moves. Atem at least looked like he was trying, although in a stiff, formal sort of way.

Suddenly, Kek stood up. “I’m getting a drink. Be back.” Ryou smiled at him knowingly, but made no comment. Yugi wondered if he should follow, but Atem beat him to it.

“I will help get beverages for everyone. Just a moment.” He stood abruptly and turned toward the kitchen.

“Um…ok? I…” Yugi didn’t get any farther before Ryou reached out and grabbed his arm to stop him from getting up to follow. He shook his head.

“Let them go. They’ll sort it out. In the meantime, we can get a start on the cookies.” He pried the lid off the container and held it out to Yugi with a smile. “They’ll be fine.”

Yugi took a deep breath and grabbed one of the sweets. “Yeah.” With nothing better to do than wait, he took a bite and let Ryou distract him with planning out their next strategy. Atem’s pieces were encroaching way too far into Ryou’s territory, after all.

In the kitchen, Kek had already situated himself next to the fridge with an open beer in his hands by the time Atem caught up to him. Atem nodded at him stiffly, and opened the fridge to grab a few more. He was taking an excessively long time to look for the bottle opener when Kek finally broke the silence of his own accord.

“Just ask.” He met Atem’s eyes when the man looked up. “We both know that’s why we’re here. Just do it.”

Atem snatched up the bottle opener and took the time to open a bottle for himself before speaking. “I am simply concerned for Yugi’s wellbeing. I always have been.”

“Yeah, I know.” Kek’s posture would have looked casual, if his every muscle wasn’t tensed like he was ready to bolt – or perhaps fight if it came to that. “But being his bodyguard means I’m out for his safety too, right?”

“Perhaps. But that is a significant change from the last time we met.”

“Yeah. Life’s a bitch like that sometimes.” Kek’s grin was strained.

Atem raised an eyebrow. “I suppose.” He took a sip of his drink, but didn’t seem to be tasting it on the way by.

“You still haven’t asked.”

Atem looked up, surprised. “I suppose not.” He flicked a droplet of condensation from his fingers before looking up with a sharp gaze. “So, then, do you still have plans to enact some form of revenge against Yugi – or me?”

This time, Kek’s smirk looked more genuine. “Nope. Already got my revenge.” Atem’s nonplussed look earned a sharp laugh. “Not against you, though. That was a… oh, the fuck is it called… a ‘red herring’, apparently.”

“How do you mean?” Atem looked honestly curious, which could be counted as some sort of progress.

The friendly tone of the question seemed to be enough to break the dam on Kek’s silence, and the words poured out as though they had just been waiting for the right opportunity. “Found out some dick named Shadi made all that ‘the pharaoh did it’ shit right up, I mean fuck him, right, that’s so messed up, who _does_ that to a kid, we wasted so much time chasing that bullshit around. Would have done something about him, probably, but it turns out he’s already dead, so that’s done, and the rest of it was a family issue anyways, nothing to do with you, really. And I already skinned my Dad ages ago, so…”

Atem just barely avoided his beer crashing to the floor. “You skinned your own father?!”

There was a thick pause while Kek took a long sip of his beer, holding direct eye contact the entire time. “Well, I hear you used to like setting people on fire back in the day, so…” He cackled loudly at Atem’s indignant noises. “Eh, we’re all a little fucked, but that’s alright. Let’s go play games.” With that, he reached out and clinked their beers together before marching out of the room, leaving Atem to follow in his wake with a bemused shake of his head.

When they got back to the game, Yugi was happy to see the tension had eased up by about a ton. He wasn’t sure what exactly they’d talked about, but Kek was smiling again and Atem was acting more like himself, so he’d take it. The evening passed by much more smoothly after that. Atem even grudgingly complimented one of Kek’s moves when it set him back by a wide margin. Atem’s pride had nothing on Kaiba’s, but Yugi still took it for the momentous peace offering it was. He’d beamed at Atem – right before unleashing his master plan and demolishing him right off the board. Kek had high-fived him for that one.

Hours later, Yugi had seen Atem out the door, gratefully accepting an approving sort of hug as he did. It seemed that Kek had earned Atem’s approval, for which Yugi was thankful. If the awkwardness had dragged on much longer, he didn’t know how he’d have handled it. Atem gave him a quick thumbs-up, and left him to see the others out.

Yugi turned to them both with a wide smile. “Well, I think that went- _oof!_ ” He was cut off by Kek engulfing him in a tight hug. He blinked in surprise before lifting his arms to hug him back. Kek held him even tighter and murmured in his ear.

“…thank you.”

Yugi smiled into his chest and nuzzled right in. He was glad Kek felt better – and now he could add ‘gives excellent hugs’ to the increasing list of things he liked about spending time with him. He was just about to try to disentangle himself when he felt Ryou pounce on Kek from the other side, declaring a group hug and sandwiching Kek between them. Yugi laughed as Kek whined about being ganged up on. He didn’t actually try to let go, though, so Yugi held on tighter and enjoyed the moment until the others finally broke away. He beamed.

Ryou swooped in for his own hug before they saw themselves out. All in all, the night had ended better than Yugi could have hoped for. He watched the others disappear down the street, and found he was already impatient for their next hang out.

* * *

“So I have a random question.” Yugi was sprawled across the couch, sipping a beer. Ryou had been stuck with a late shift, so it was only the two of them tonight.

Kek walked back into the room with his own drink, and unceremoniously shoved Yugi’s legs out of the way so he could sit down. He eyed him suspiciously as Yugi resituated himself. “I don’t like the look on that fake-innocent face of yours, boss.”

“Who’s fake? I’m the very picture of innocence!” Yugi widened his eyes and blinked, twisting his lower lip into a sweet pout.

Kek scoffed loudly. “Yeah, and so’s Ryou. You’ve met him, right? Seen his movie collection lately?” They shared a laugh at that before Kek ploughed on. “And didn’t you hear? According to my _very reliable_ sources, you hired your new bodyguard exclusively to fondle his arms or some shit. _Clearly,_ there’s something kinky going on there.”

“Oh gods, I’m never going to live that stupid article down, am I.”

Kek’s grin was wicked. “Hell no. It was hysterical.”

Shortly after the chatroom debacle, Yugi had decided to clarify on social media that the “stalker” now being reported by several different sources was, in fact, a new bodyguard to support him during events. The gossip columns seemed to take that as permission to take as many photos as they could, and the rumours were continuing to spread. The tipping point had been when one of them got a really nice shot of Kek flexing at a particularly obnoxious member of the paparazzi. They’d published another sensationalist article about Yugi’s supposed bedroom antics, complete with poorly photoshopped ‘what-if’ pictures. And it’s not that Kek wasn’t a very attractive person – Yugi wasn’t blind – but having a personal life that didn’t even _exist_ all over the tabloids was exhausting. Yugi couldn’t wait for it all to blow over, but Kek was having the time of his life sending him the most cringeworthy follow-up articles he could find.

“I’m so glad you’re so amused.” He stuffed a pillow into Kek’s snickering face before continuing. “ _Anyways_ , I have a random question.”

Kek emerged from behind the pillow with a wide grin. “Shoot.”

Yugi stretched out on the couch, deliberately casual. “Well, I was thinking. Things went well when you met Atem, right? You actually got along at least OK.” He waited for Kek to nod, despite him looking increasingly apprehensive. “So I think it’s past time for you to come hang out with the rest of the gang. You could come with Ryou next weekend. It’ll be fun!” Kek shot him a deadpan look and crossed his arms, and Yugi huffed. “Oh, come on, yes it will.”

“I don’t ‘hang’. At least not with people who are gonna freak out about it.”

Yugi snatched up the pillow and thwapped Kek firmly over the head with it to accent each of his next words. “They. Are. Not. Afraid. Of. You. Lame excuse, stop it.”

His vicious pillow attack had the desired effect, and Kek smiled sheepishly at him. “I still don’t just… hang out with people though.”

Yugi looked down at his drink. And at Kek’s. And at the couch. And then around the room, in apparent shock. He was about to point to their bowl of chips as though he’d just discovered the secret fountain of youth or something when Kek interrupted by chucking his thwapping-pillow right back into his head with a soft ‘thump’. Kek huffed. “Oh, shut the fuck up, you know what I mean.”

Yugi cheerfully laid the pillow on his lap as future ammo. You never knew when a good throw pillow would come in handy. “I know what you mean. I still think you should come hang out. Ryou will be happy you’re working on being less ‘friendship-challenged’, too.”

Kek all but pouted. “I don’t want to, though. I’d prefer to just hang out with you two and play video games or something.”

“Yeah, I bet.” Yugi cast around for some way to get this to happen. He really did think it would be good for Kek to at least say ‘hi’ to everyone, even if it didn’t become a regular thing. That, and Jou was getting increasingly insistent that the rest of them should get the chance to meet the guy, since Atem had. He was intensely curious, and Yugi knew he wouldn’t give up on the idea until it happened. But if he acted fast, at least it could happen on their own terms, and not by the gang getting restless enough to show up uninvited one day.

His eyes fell on a game controller, and inspiration struck. “Let’s make a bet.”

Kek gave him a curious look. “A bet, huh?”

“Yeah.” Yugi snapped up the controller and waved it enticingly. “If I win, you need to come hang out with us on the weekend, just this once. And if you win, I’ll stop bugging you about it.”

Kek snorted. “But Ryou won’t.”

Damn, Yugi had been hoping he wouldn’t think of that. “You’ll have to make a separate bet with Ryou, then. But at least I’ll leave you alone for a bit.” Kek still looked hesitant, so he leaned in with a pout. “I’m not going to stop asking you to join us unless you beat me. Come on, I’ll even let you pick the game.”

“That’s a dangerous offer, Mutou. No one can beat my Resident Evil scores.”

“But you’ve never played against the King of Games before.” Yugi puffed out his small chest in a mock superhero’s pose. That finally got a huff of laughter out of Kek, who snatched the controller away with a smirk.

“Fine, you’re on. Best two out of three.” He was already loading the game. Yugi could say this for the man – once he committed to doing something, it got done. “But you better keep up your end of the deal.”

“I will if you will.” Yugi was practically beaming in anticipation.

The competition was fierce, and the scores were closer than Yugi had guessed they’d be, given that he’d been playing video games for years before Kek even knew they existed. But he soon learned that Kek on a zombie-killing spree was a force to be reckoned with. Yugi was pretty sure he’d needed to cash in some of whatever good karma helped him maintain his King of Games title to pull it off, but in the end, he was cheering his victory next to a grumbling Kek.

Yugi turned to Kek and propped his chin on his forearm as he leaned against the back of the couch. “I win.”

Kek huffed good-naturedly. “Yes, boss.”

“You can bring the chips this weekend.”

“Yes, boss.” He rolled his eyes.

“And make a whole bunch of new friends.”

“We’ll see, boss.” Kek tried his best to hide his grimace, which Yugi thought was quite kind of him.

“And have a super-awesome, wonderful time.”

 _That_ got him a pillow to the face again, but he didn’t care. Yugi grinned excitedly. This weekend would be one to remember.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ Tumblr ](https://mainstream-deviant.tumblr.com/)


	5. Meeting the Gang

The room was ready to go, with games and snacks anywhere he could fit them. Yugi was having a bit of déjà vu as he waited for his guests to arrive, knowing that he was about to orchestrate not one but several new encounters between Kek and his friends. He tried not to look too nervous as he greeted each of his guests at the doorway. Atem gave him a reassuring smile as he entered, which helped, but he could tell that Jou was barely holding in about a million questions. Thankfully, he only got as far as opening his mouth before Tristan elbowed him hard in the ribs. Yugi shot him a grateful look.

Yugi was nervously fiddling with a beer he’d only managed to take two sips of and half-listening to Duke, who was trying (and mostly failing) to walk Jou through the latest new game out of his shop, when the doorbell rang one last time. He hopped to his feet and scrambled to the door to let in the guests of honour.

He’d barely manged to say hello when Jou appeared behind him and flung and arm over his shoulder to check out the last arrivals.

“Heeeey, dere he is!” He eyed Kek critically, and Yugi was relieved to see that Kek looked a lot more relaxed about it than he had when they’d been introducing him to Atem. “You comin’ in or what?”

Kek raised an eyebrow. “We would, if you weren’t blocking the doorway.”

Jou blinked and then backed away sheepishly. “Riiight.” He looked over at Ryou as they made their way inside. “An’ you got here at the same time! He didn’t give ya any trouble or nothin’, huh?”

Ryou smiled sweetly. “Of course not. And it would have been strange to arrive at different times, he lives with me after all.”

“He what??” Tristan and Duke were both starting at Ryou, stunned.

Ryou looked mildly surprised by everyone’s reactions. “Oh. Should I have mentioned?”

Kek shrugged. “Eh, whatever, it’s nobody’s business. Yugi’s gonna show me where I can get a beer now. See you in a minute, babe.” With that, he leaned over and very pointedly pressed a lingering kiss to Ryou’s lips, before grabbing Yugi by the arm and bee-lining for the kitchen as an eruption of loud exclamations sounded out behind them.

Yugi giggled a little as they skidded into the kitchen. “That was mean, _babe_.”

Kek chuckled. “Ryou’s tough, he can handle it.” He popped open the fridge and helped himself to a beer. “Besides, we half-planned that in advance. Give ‘em something else to focus on than being creeped out or whatever.”

Yugi widened his eyes as much as he could without risking them falling right out of his head, and raised his free hand dramatically to his mouth. “You _planned?_ ”

“Shut the fuck up, midget boy.”

“That should be ‘boss’.”

“I’m off the clock. Fight me.” Kek smirked and took a long drink from his bottle.

Yugi raised his free arm as though to make a muscle, eyeing the wiry limb critically and glancing back and forth between it and Kek’s physique as though seriously considering it, before shaking his head. “Nah, I’m good.” He heard Kek chuckle, and continued. “I’ll just kick your ass with the game controller again if I have to.”

Kek huffed. Yugi poked him in the arm with a cheeky grin, and Kek gently swatted the hand away. “Yeah, yeah, hotshot. Let’s go save Ryou.”

Yugi smiled happily and clinked their beers together, then gestured for Kek to lead the way. “After you.” He spotted the tiny twitch at the corner of Kek’s mouth, and reached out to give him a quick squeeze on the shoulder. “It’ll be fine. They’re just going to be excited about all this. We’re kind of big on making new friends, in case you hadn’t noticed.” Kek just rolled his eyes and bumped shoulders with Yugi before taking a deep breath and heading back out of the kitchen.

They’d barely gotten out of the room before Duke appeared at Kek’s side and flung an arm over his shoulders, leaning in with a grin. “So, you and Ryou, huh? How did you manage to land a guy like that so fast, hmm?”

“Uh….” Kek looked stunned at the sudden familiarity. Yugi smiled fondly at the dumbfounded look on Kek’s face. He really wasn’t used to the kind of aggressive kindness and acceptance that tended to be their group’s default setting, but Yugi was sure he’d adapt in a hurry. For all his hesitance to start with, Kek seemed to lap up positive attention as soon as he believed it was really there. For now, though, he decided to help the poor guy out.

“You don’t have to spill any details, Kek. He’s just looking for free dating advice, he’s been off his game lately.”

Duke did his best to look indignant. “I have _not._ I’m just… playing the long game. Yeah.”

Kek smirked and relaxed. “I’m technically the youngest person in this room by a decade or two, and even _I’m_ not naïve enough to believe that.”

Tristan chose that moment to butt in. “That’s what I’ve been saying! This guy has way too many excuses about this mystery crush of his, it’s getting exhausting.”

Kek burst out laughing as Duke opened his mouth to defend his flirtation skills, and Yugi took that moment to duck away and look for Ryou. He found him on the other side of the room, cornered by Jou and Atem. From the looks of it, Atem was trying to at least slow the flow of questions now pouring out of Jou a mile of minute. Ryou seemed to be handling the onslaught with his usual somewhat detached composure, and smiled when Yugi walked up.

Yugi elbowed Jou in the side. “You finished grilling him yet?”

“I’m not _grillin’_ him, I’m just askin’ friendly questions.” Jou’s eyes crinkled with the size of his grin.

Atem let out a fond sigh. “Yes, several hundred of them, it seems.”

“A _friendly_ hundred, though.” Jou flung an arm around Ryou. “‘Sides, Ryou doesn’t mind, do ya?”

“Not at all.” Ryou’s smile looked genuine, at least, and Yugi returned it with an affectionate roll of his eyes.

“Well, good then. But Jou, you’re missing the chance to grill Kek for dating tips with Duke. Why don’t you do that for a minute and I’ll get Ryou a drink, at least.”

Jou glanced over his shoulder at the three still trading barbs. “Yeah, I got some questions for him, too.” He gave a quick wave to the others and hurried over to add his voice to the building cacophony just as the loud bark of Kek’s unmistakable cackle filled the room.

Atem eyed the squabbling group and edged away towards it with a small frown creasing his brow. “I… should go see how that conversation is going.”

Ryou watched him go with a look of interest. “What’s that about? He had a weird look on his face.”

“I honestly have no idea. I don’t think he’s worried about Kek though, if that’s what you’re thinking. But without the mindlink to help, Atem can be hard to keep track of these days.”

Ryou grinned and nudged Yugi affectionately. “Well, at least you know what country he’s in.”

Yugi groaned. “Please don’t remind me that there’s a stray Bakura wreaking havoc somewhere out in the world. We can deal with that when he makes the news.”

Ryou broke out in laughter, and Yugi slipped a hand into the crook of his elbow to pull him to the kitchen. He gestured to the fridge. “Help yourself.”

Ryou nodded and opened the door, only to pop his head back up with a delighted grin. “You bought some of my favourite cider!”

“Of course! I’ve noticed you always have it around your place, so I figured it was a safe bet. Anything for a friend.” Yugi felt his chest warm at Ryou’s delighted expression as he cracked open a can. Ryou had always been quick to smile in a polite sort of way, but he absolutely shone when he was genuinely happy about something. And it was always wonderful to be the one to put that smile there. “I hear you two planned that grand entrance of yours.”

Ryou snorted into his cider and had to take a minute to cough out the bubbles. “Ah, sorry. Yes, we planned that, more or less. The surprising part is that it was Kek’s idea.”

“Really? I assumed you encouraged him.”

“Nope, not this time.” Ryou glanced over his shoulder towards where voices and laughter were still filtering in from the next room. “I’m proud of him for taking this so well. I think meeting you – and everyone else, now – has been really good for him. The very fact that he accepted your invitation is amazing!”

It was Yugi’s turn to snort at that. “Invitation. Right.”

Ryou turned to give Yugi a quizzical look. “Didn’t you invite him?”

“Oh, sure I did. But he only accepted it because he lost a bet. Resident Evil, best two rounds of three. He had to come along to this if he lost.”

Ryou shook his head. “I take back my pride in him. I’m dating an idiot. Who places bets against the King of Games?” His face broke into a cheeky grin.

Yugi smiled back, and then glanced towards the sound of a loud burst of laughter and something indignant sounding coming from Jou. “Someone who’s looking for a convenient excuse, I bet.”

“Hmm. Yeah, maybe so.” Ryou smiled fondly. “Kek is complicated sometimes. He’s figuring it out, though. And he’s better at showing than telling, anyways.”

“Oh _is_ he now?” Yugi shot Ryou a smirk and waggled his eyebrows, expecting to fluster Ryou a bit and get a look at this adorable blush. But all Ryou did was smirk right back and level Yugi with a smouldering look.

“Oh yes – why, did you want all the intimate details?”

Yugi felt his cheeks heat. Ryou’s come-hither look was distressingly effective on his typically sweet looking face. Rookie mistake – never trust the innocent looking ones. Yugi fumbled for words as his traitorous brain oh-so-helpfully provided him with a slideshow of what ‘showing’ could entail. “Um, well, that’s not- I- ”

Ryou burst into peals of laughter. “Ok ok, I guess that’s not a conversation for your kitchen with half your friends in the other room. But if you want to see what I mean, we can always go to the club together again. On purpose, this time.”

Yugi composed himself and smiled brightly at the idea, fighting down the last of his blush. “Yeah, that sounds great.”

Ryou nodded in agreement, and they both turned their heads at a loud whooping from the other room. “We should probably go check on that.”

“Yep. C’mon.”

When they got back into the living room, it was to find that the table had been cleared off to make way for an arm-wrestling competition. Jou was huffing as he strained against Kek’s grip. Kek looked more composed, but Yugi knew damn well that Jou was a lot stronger than he looked. He’d bet they were fairly evenly matched.

Tristan let out another loud whoop as Jou gained a half an inch and Kek grunted in frustration. Ryou scurried forward to cheer his boyfriend on, but Yugi suddenly found he wasn’t sure who he wanted to cheer for. That was new. The unexpected feeling froze him to the spot for a second, but he quickly shoved it aside and settled in next to Duke to watch. There was nothing wrong with wanting to cheer on both his friends, right?

“How did you guys end up arm wrestling, exactly?”

Duke grinned. “Kek’s arms are the talk of the tabloids, in case you didn’t notice,” and he laughed at Yugi’s dramatic drawn-out groan before continuing, “so Jou wanted to prove he could still take on anyone in the room.” Ryou cheered as Kek made some headway. “I don’t know if he’s going to pull it off, though.”

“Ha yeah, tough call.” Yugi stopped to let out a cheer as their fists started to waver in the middle of the table. “It’s good to see them bonding, though.”

“Pfft, it wasn’t hard. Kek’s alright.”

Yugi beamed at that. He hadn’t ever really doubted that tonight would go well, but it was never a bad thing to hear it confirmed. Maybe he’d be able to convince Kek and Ryou over more often after this. Hope swelled in his chest at the thought. It would be wonderful to have even more excuses to spend time with them.

There was an outburst of shouting as Kek suddenly managed to wrench Jou’s hand down halfway to the table.

“Gyaaah! Oh no ya don’t!” Jou let out a loud grunt and hunched over his arm to try to regain some traction, but it was obvious that he was on a losing slide. Seconds later, his hand hit the table with a resounding _thump_. The spectators cheered and groaned, and Jou threw back his head dramatically. “Aw, _man!_ ” He let out an annoyed huff of air, and then tilted his head back and fixed Kek with an intense look as he pointed at his chest. “Alright, you win _this_ time, ‘cause I’m a nice guy an’ all. But _next_ time… _next_ time I’m getting my undefeated title back, just you wait and see.”

Kek smirked. “You’re welcome to try.”

“Try? Tryin’ is for amateurs! I’ll kick your ass no prob, an’ that’s a promise.” He gave Kek his patented wide grin and a thumbs-up before reaching across the table to shake his hand. “Alright, I need another soda. That worked up an appetite.”

Kek leaned back with a deep sigh and wiped the thin sheen of sweat from his forehead. “Anyone else?”

“Nooo thanks, I’ll keep my dignity if it’s all the same to you.” Tristan grinned and held out his hand for a fist bump. Kek looked a bit surprised at the gesture, but accepted it with a grin. The others followed Jou into the kitchen to commiserate with him over his loss, leaving Yugi alone with the couple for a moment.

Ryou wrapped his arms around Kek’s shoulders and gave a him a peck on the cheek. “Well done.”

“Keh, thanks.” Kek spotted Jou walking back into the room with a fresh soda and smiled. “These guys are all right.”

“Told ya.” Yugi smiled at Kek, and was perfectly happy with the eyeroll he got in return. He snickered and clasped Kek on the shoulder. “Alright, strong man, come play with everyone. Maybe you can find someone you can actually beat at Resident Evil while you’re here.” Yugi ducked to avoid Kek messing with his hair and scampered to the rest of the gang, grinning over his shoulder at the other two following behind. He’d known this was going to work out. Best bet he’d ever made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ Tumblr ](https://mainstream-deviant.tumblr.com/)


	6. A Night on the Town

“Ah, Yugi, come in!”

Yugi dumped his bag on the ground to give Ryou a hug hello. They were finally making good on Ryou’s suggestion to go dancing again, and Yugi had arrived early so they could hang out for a bit and get ready together before heading out.

They chatted briefly as Yugi toed off his shoes, the conversation flowing with the ease of long familiarity. Without a missing a beat, Ryou wove his fingers through Yugi’s and he led him into the apartment. That was kind of odd and unexpected, but then again that was pretty much Ryou’s brand. Plus, the skin of his hands was wonderfully soft and warm, so Yugi was perfectly happy to go along with it.

He soon found himself idly running his thumb along the back of Ryou’s hand as he listened to him chatter about his day. It was so sweet and casual, and he entertained the sudden fleeting thought that this would be a nice thing to come home to after a long day of work. Only maybe, it would be even nicer to be greeted with a kiss first…

Yugi snapped back to the present moment with a jolt, thumb freezing on the spot as he realized how far his thoughts had veered off course. When did he start acting like a smitten fool around his friend? Fortunately, he didn’t have long to work himself into a panic. They reached the entryway to the kitchen and Ryou dropped his hand without seeming to notice Yugi’s brief moment of affectionate insanity.

Ryou turned to him with a smile. “I still need to change, but Kek’s already set and waiting in the kitchen to finish up. Why don’t you join him? You can use the washroom after me.”

“Uh yeah, sure. Sounds good.”

Ryou smiled brightly before leaving to go get changed. Yugi ran his thumb along his fingertips, trying to wrestle his thoughts back into submission as he walked into the kitchen to find Kek. Maybe he’d offer a good distraction.

He found the man decked out in black and examining a wide selection of accessories laid out on the kitchen table, but he looked up and eyed Yugi’s luggage as he hauled it onto a chair. “Damn, Yugi, did you bring your whole closet?”

“Of course not. But it’s good to have options.” Yugi patted the bag affectionately.

“If you say so.” Kek rolled his eyes and pulled him into a one-armed hug. After a quick squeeze hello he left his bare arm wrapped around Yugi’s shoulders, so Yugi settled comfortably into his side and looped his arm around Kek’s waist in return. The material of Kek’s shirt was pleasantly soft under his fingers, and he squashed down the urge to let his traitorous thumb start rubbing again. Kek poked at his bag. “I didn’t know you took this shit so seriously.”

Yugi shrugged. “Oh, dunno about taking it seriously, but I need to make sure I can keep up with you guys once you’re all dressed up. So – options!” He winked at Kek.

Kek scoffed. “You won’t have any problem ‘keeping up’, you’re gorgeous.”

Yugi felt his brain temporarily grind to a halt as blood was redirected towards his cheeks instead. He hadn’t expected such a casually sincere compliment to come out of Kek, and after being thrown off by Ryou, he was doubly unprepared. Before he could slot together enough coherent words and stutter out a response and explain his bright flush, Kek dropped his arm and turned away. Yugi wasn’t sure whether Kek had missed his reaction or was just giving him a free pass, but either way he’d take it.

He took a deep breath and tried to will away the last of his blush while Kek walked over to the fridge to grab them a couple of beers. When Yugi accepted his, he noticed that his favourite brand had found its way into their fridge. His heart swelled with affection.

“Thanks.” Yugi tipped his bottle forward to clink with Kek’s.

“Sure. Gotta keep my boys happy.”

Yugi snickered as Kek turned back to the accessories. It was at this point that Yugi was reminded that Kek’s choice of tight black pants offered a very tempting view, and he did an absolutely terrible job resisting it as Kek leaned over the table to poke at a bracelet. The material was doing an excellent job of… He shook his head to dislodge all the thoughts that particular image was encouraging, and tried to focus on the accessories Kek was looking at instead. Now was not the time.

“You should pick something with some colour or shine, since you’re wearing all black so far.” Yugi pulled over his bag to pull out some of what he’d brought, too. “Maybe a bracelet or a choker or something. Gotta let people enjoy that shirt, you know.”

Kek chuckled as he stuck a couple of fingers into one of the rips across his chest and pulled it open as wide as he could, showing off the toned skin underneath. “Ryou likes it, anyways.”

“I’ll bet he does.” Yugi winked, firmly shoving down the sudden impulse to add ‘ _and so do I_ ’, and pulled out what he was looking for. “Here! This collar has some nice studs, it’ll work well. Try it!”

Kek took the collar and fumbled with it for a minute, before letting out a little snarl of frustration when he couldn’t get it to latch around his neck. Yugi took pity on the man and walked around him so he could work on the clasp himself. Kek had to use a wider size than he did, so the leather wasn’t used to bending at quite that angle. It took some fiddling, but he was eventually able to force the clasp into position. Victory.

Yugi suddenly realized that as he’d worked, he’d leaned in until he was a hair’s breadth from the back of Kek’s neck. Kek could probably feel his breath, and yet he hadn’t even flinched. A stray fantasy pushed its way to the front of his mind - he could imagine the feeling of leaning forward that last little bit to press his lips to the nape of Kek’s neck. The skin would be deliciously warm under his lips as he pressed kisses along the edge of the collar. Kek would shudder at the feeling, and then-

“Ooh, that collar looks quite good on you! That’s one of Yugi’s, isn’t it?”

Yugi quickly pulled his hands – and everything else – away from Kek and let him model the new choker for Ryou. He gave himself a mental shakedown. What would Ryou have thought if he’d walked in on- _oof!_

“Ooh, he looks great Yugi, thanks!”

Suddenly he had an armful of excited Ryou to derail his thoughts, and he squeezed him back affectionately, glad for the distraction. Ryou held on, and Yugi couldn’t help but deeply inhale the scent of Ryou’s shampoo from the hair that was tickling his nose. It was a wonderful scent – it would be so nice to just nuzzle right in, and then –

Ok, seriously, what the hell was in that beer?

Yugi pulled away with a bright smile, trying to stop any heat from resettling on his cheeks. “Glad you like it.” Of course, pulling away meant he was able to get a proper look at Ryou’s outfit, and he was sure his eyes bugged out a bit when he did. “Holy shit Ryou, you look amazing.”

Ryou had on a flowing silky-looking top and obscenely tight pants. He’d also done something to fluff out his hair a bit, which gave him a bit of a wilder look. In fact, he looked almost like…

“Looks like you’re channelling the ring spirit again.”

Yugi blinked over at Kek. “Does he do that often?”

“Only if we’re going out. But it’s a good look on him, don’t you think?” Kek grabbed Ryou’s hand and slowly twirled him around to give Yugi the benefit of a three hundred and sixty degree view. Yugi didn’t waste the opportunity, drinking in the sight and shoving down some of his mind’s more creative commentary in equal measure. He cleared his throat before answering.

“Yeah, you both look great. I’m really going to have to bring my A game to keep up.”

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll look wonderful, Yugi, you usually do.” Ryou’s smile was bright and sincere and it made Yugi’s heart flutter in a disconcerting sort of way. He cleared his throat again and snatched up his bag.

“Anyways, I better go change too. Here,” Yugi rummaged around in his bag, yanking out anything he could find that wasn’t clothes, “you can have a look through the rest of what I brought in the meantime. Use whatever you like!” And with that, he made a quick exit towards the bathroom.

Safely hidden away, Yugi took a deep breath and rubbed a hand along the back of his neck. That was a lot of intrusive thoughts all at once. It’s not like the fact that his friends were all kinds of gorgeous was exactly a secret, but still. He leaned against the sink and sucked in a few more breaths of air to calm his nerves the rest of the way down. At least they didn’t seem bothered by his reactions. If anything, they seemed to welcome them. Or maybe, just maybe, he was a lot better at hiding them than he’d thought.

Unlikely, but it was a nice thought.

He shook his head and started pulling clothing options from his bag. Well, if they dared to look that tempting, damned if he wasn’t going to try to keep up, too. If he had his way, he wouldn’t be the only one suffering from brain cramps tonight.

By the time Yugi had decided on the best leather-to-mesh ratio and wandered back into the kitchen, Ryou had somehow ended up draped in almost every available accessory from all of their collections combined. The pair looked up and Ryou grinned sheepishly. “You left us unattended for five minutes. These things happen.”

Yugi giggled. “You look like a bad modern parody of the Thief King.”

“See? That’s what I said! It’s Ryou’s new look! It’s perfect!” Kek cackled to himself and moved to drape another necklace over Ryou’s hair. Ryou let him place it delicately on the crown of his head, smiled sweetly for a couple of seconds, and then broke out in a full-body shimmy, dislodging most of his excessive add-ons in one go. Kek pouted a bit as they clattered to the table and floor.

“Boo.”

“Well, it’s not like they were going to stay on anyways. Besides, now that Yugi’s back we need them available to help him look even hotter than he already does.”

“Thanks, Ryou.” Yugi flushed and rubbed the back of his neck. He was pretty sure Ryou had just given him a thorough once-over, but that might just be his imagination running wild again.

“Yeah, we’re gonna be the best-looking people in the club!” Kek held out a hand for high-fives, and they settled into actually focusing on their final touches. Yugi was able to help a lot with accessories, but when they got started on makeup Kek was in his element. Ryou even defaulted to asking for Kek’s nod on his choices, so his comfort with the little brushes and pencils was obviously not new. Interesting.

“For someone who doesn’t do this very often, you’re really good at it”. Yugi had noticed that Kek didn’t often bother with eyeliner in his day to day life, but you’d never know it from how confidently he handled his tools.

“Leftover memories from Marik. Just because I’m not doing the Ishtar design anymore doesn’t mean I forgot how to use eyeliner and shit. Here, let me try something on you.” At Yugi’s nod, he gently cupped Yugi’s chin and tilted his head so he could drag a soft brush over his lids. Yugi relaxed into his warm fingers, enjoying the soft sensations as inks and powders were carefully applied.

He had fallen into a kind of meditative relaxation when he realized that feeling of the brushes had been replaced by a thumb trailing idly over his cheek, as though still brushing off the last of the stray powder. He fluttered open his eyes and saw that Kek was starting intently at his lips, apparently lost in thought as his thumb moved gently back and forth. Yugi blushed deeply, and the warmth of his blush seemed to snap Kek out of it. He hurriedly pulled his hand away and went back to eyeing Yugi’s eyelids critically. “Yeah, I think that’ll do. Here, look.” He held out a small mirror for Yugi.

Yugi spared the mirror a quick glance and idly noticed that he looked really good with the new shape around his eyes. He made some sort of approving sound, he was sure, but most of this thought process was still stuck on “ _mmm, lips_ ”. He didn’t really break through his haze until Ryou grabbed his attention by exclaiming over how good he looked.

Yugi gave himself yet another mental shake and grinned, all teeth and confident veneer. “Thanks. Kek really knows what he’s doing.” He gave Kek’s knee an appreciative pat and moved away so Kek could finish his own final touches while he and Ryou finished the last of their drinks.

That done, there was nothing left but to head out and hope he didn’t make too much of a fool of himself.

The club was alive with bodies. Feeling slightly buzzed on their first couple of beers and excitement, they beelined straight to the dancefloor. Yugi always found he needed a song or two to get into the rhythm of things, and so he was ready to kind of bop awkwardly to the beat for a few minutes before really getting going, but he stopped short when a flash of white caught his eye.

Ryou, apparently, had no such issue. His movements were fluid and graceful from the moment they stopped to dance, and holy hell he knew how to move his hips. Yugi tried not to stare too obviously as he felt his mouth go dry, but he was absolutely, one hundred percent sure that he was failing. Badly. 

He felt warmth on his back and then heard Kek’s soft chuckle in his ear over the music. “Heh, it’s ok to look at him, we got all dressed up for a reason, you know.” He laughed harder when Yugi turned beet red at the comment. “Come on, I’ll dance with you until we catch up. We’re not all Ryou.”

Yugi laughed a little self-consciously and nodded before turning to face Kek and trying to find the rhythm of the music pulsing around them. Kek grabbed one of his hands and started sashaying them back and forth like they were at an awkward pre-teen dance, and Yugi burst out laughing at the absurdity of it all.

Their antics must have caught Ryou’s attention, because he let out a loud whoop and shimmied in between their extended arms to do some sort of weird little cha-cha in the space between them. Kek burst out cackling and scooped Ryou around the waist to pull him beside them so they could dance properly, and they soon fell into some sort of rhythm together. Yugi wouldn’t exactly call it graceful, but it was fun and freeing to flail around together without a care in the world. Every once in a while, someone would scoop whoever was closest into a twirl or shimmy, and at one point the whole thing degraded into a ‘who has the lamest possible dance moves’ competition. Yugi claimed victory for himself. So did Kek. It was wonderful.

Yugi was spinning out of a playful twirl with Ryou when he stumbled into someone behind them.

“Oof, sorry.” Yugi smiled apologetically at the man, and the stranger grinned and waved off the apology before continuing to shuffle towards the bar. He looked back over his shoulder and smiled again a couple of times on the way, which caught Kek’s attention.

Kek leaned in to Yugi’s ear. “Ooh, looks like someone has an admiiiirer…” He drew out the last word in a sing-song, grinning from ear to ear.

Ryou leaned in too. “Oh yes Yugi, he’s cute! You should go see if he wants to dance.” Ryou nudged Yugi in the side, encouraging him onwards as the guy glanced back again. “Oh, see? He’s totally interested.”

Yugi did have eyes, of course. The guy in question was certainly handsome, with a carefully maintained scruff of a beard and broad shoulders. And sure, his smile was nice. But… Yugi glanced at the other two and their encouraging smiles, and felt his heart clench. They’d been having such a good time…

“Uh… well…”

“Oh, don’t be shy, Yugi, you look great, it’ll be fine.”

Yugi shook his head at Ryou’s chipper encouragement. “It’s not that. It’s just that we were having such a good time, and… well, I think I’d rather just hang out with you guys tonight. That is, if you don’t mind having a-”

Kek cut him off by grabbing him around the waist and pulling him back to his chest. “Fine by us!!” He punctuated the statement by nuzzling his nose right into the crook of Yugi’s neck, which made him flush horribly. He hoped the flashing lights made it less obvious this time, at least.

“Yes, we’ll happily keep you, Yugi. I just didn’t want you to feel like you’d missed an opportunity on our accounts.” Ryou laid his hands on Yugi’s shoulders with a cheery smile and leaned in, matching Kek’s movements behind him.

“Nothing missed, I promise.” Yugi was happy to return Ryou’s quick hug, but when he tried to pull away from Kek and go back to where they’d left off, Kek tightened his arms.

“Nope. You’re stuck with us now. Suffer. Mwa ha.”

Yugi sputtered a bit, but Ryou just laughed and boxed him in. “You heard the man.”

It was startling how quickly they fell into a new rhythm, wound closer together and swaying more fluidly to the music. Any feelings that he might be forcing himself onto them as some sort of third wheel quickly vanished as they took turns pulling each other close to sway with the music. The warm press of hands and hips felt like more than he should be allowed to have, but he decided right then and there that he didn’t care. It was blissful, and fuck it, he was going to enjoy the fantasy for just a minute.

Yugi nuzzled into whoever’s neck was closest and closed his eyes, giving himself permission to lose himself to the warmth of their dancing and the sounds of the music flowing around them. He sometimes lost track of who was who as they swayed together, but it didn’t seem to matter much anyways. Any time he reached out, there was a waist or a hip to hold to ground himself, or an arm to use to spin each other around. Eventually Kek peeled off to fetch them another round of drinks, and Ryou sidled right up to press them together with a warm hand on Yugi’s back. Yugi smiled slowly and looped his arms around Ryou’s neck as he leaned in to his ear.

“You really are a great dancer, you know?”

Ryou ran the tip of his nose along Yugi’s cheekbone before answering. “You’re pretty good yourself.” He punctuated the point by using his hands on Yugi’s hips to guide him in a slow roll together. Yugi shivered a bit. “We should do this more often.”

Yugi laughed and nodded, thankful that he could blame his blush on the lights or the workout. “Yeah, totally!” Ryou seemed quite pleased at that and relaxed his arms, leaving them both a little more room to move. Yugi gave in to the urge to reach out his fingers and trail them down through a stray lock of Ryou’s hair. He twirled it idly in his fingers as they swayed before tucking it carefully back behind Ryou’s ear.

“Having fun?” Kek’s rumbling voice in his ear caught him off-guard, and he stumbled slightly before looking up with a smile and nodding. Kek gave him a satisfied nod, then grabbed his hand to give him a twirl. He used the opportunity to wind his arm around Yugi’s waist and pull him close, back-to-chest, just like he had the very first moment he’d popped unexpectedly into his life. Kek squeezed him a bit. “Hey, you owe me that dance, you know.”

Yugi laughed and nodded, laying his hand over Kek’s arm and lacing their fingers together to anchor them. He felt Kek’s other hand land on his shoulder before he dragged his fingers down along Yugi’s arm, guiding his arm up and over his head with the glide of his fingertips as Ryou let out an encouraging whoop. Emboldened by the sound, Yugi melted back into the solid body behind him and ground his hips back in a slow circle as he trailed the fingertips of his free hand down along Kek’s neck. He wasn’t sure if he imagined the low growl in his ear, but he was damn sure Kek stumbled a bit, and he smirked victoriously. With that, he squirmed his way out of Kek’s tight hold to whirl around and crook his finger at the man, beckoning him to join both him and Ryou in their group dance again. Kek’s grin was wide and wild as he did just that.

The rest of the night flowed away in a haze of warm hands and cold drinks and bright laughter. Too soon, they were being shuffled out of the club and making their way back to Ryou’s apartment. They kept up a steady chatter as Yugi reassembled his bag, and he found he wanted to stretch the night out as long as he possibly could, even if there was only idle chatter left to enjoy. No court would ever convict him of taking an unusually long time to find all his items, he was sure of it. They couldn’t prove a thing. Even so, it felt like no time at all until he was standing at the door to say their goodbyes.

“Ahh, that was so fun! Thank you for coming!!” Ryou threw his arms around Yugi and held him tight. Yugi buried his face into Ryou’s shoulder and returned the hug enthusiastically. What a night.

“It was a great night, you guys. This was a great idea.” Yugi pulled back reluctantly.

“Damn right it was. Shame it has to end.” Kek shooed Ryou out of the way to say his own goodbyes. “You sure you gotta go?”

 _No_ , Yugi’s impulsive brain provided, but he shoved that thought aside and smiled instead. There was no way he wasn’t going to end up doing something stupid if he stayed. “Yeah. I should really get some sleep at _some_ point tonight. I’m supposed to be hanging out with Atem tomorrow afternoon and I’ll need to be at the top of my game.”

“Keh, well fine then. I’d hate to cost my boss his title by forcing him to stay up the whole night.” Kek winked, and Yugi laughed a little.

“Yeah. Never a dull moment.” Yugi hesitated, then held his arms out to offer Kek a hug as well. Kek perked up and eagerly stepped forward to wrap Yugi up in his arms. As they pulled back, Yugi was shocked to feel the warm, lingering press of lips to his cheek. Kek hummed into the embrace and then pulled back properly. Yugi would give about anything for a return of the club’s flashing lights and the camouflage they offered for rosy cheeks. Damn. That was… really nice.

“Well, goodnight I guess.” Kek’s grin was lopsided, in the way that meant he wasn’t quite sure if he deserved it or not. Yugi was quick to flash him a blinding smile, eager to erase that hesitance. This evening had been confusing as all hell, but he’d never want Kek to think any part of it was bad.

“Yeah, goodnight I guess.” Yugi pulled himself together and gave one last wave before the door closed behind him. He took a deep, fortifying breath of the cool night air. Well then. Interesting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yugi "this is totally how Good Friends act, right?" Mutou, everyone. Someone please get this kid a clue. 
> 
> [ Tumblr ](https://mainstream-deviant.tumblr.com/)


	7. ...oops.

Yugi awoke the next morning to the chirping of his phone. He grumbled and dragged it towards his face, cracking one eye open to glare at the screen. It was a message from Jou.

‘ _I have questions. [link]’_

Yugi was just about ready to decide he wasn’t awake enough for memes or whatever when he realized he recognized the website. It was one of those horrible celebrity-spotting sites that fed off the voraciousness of paparazzi and overly-intrusive fans. His heartrate picked up in a hurry. What _now_? He clicked the link.

Well fuck a flying duck.

Someone had snapped a photo from the club yesterday. And he was pretty damn sure he knew exactly when they’d taken it, too. He was pressed back against Kek’s chest, grinding back into him with one arm flung up over his head, reaching up to stroke Kek’s neck. You could see Ryou off to the side cheering them on, but anyone who didn’t know the couple would never even notice him in the crowd. Ugh, could they have picked a more scandalous-looking pose? They’d had an entire night of private moments to steal, why did it have to be _that_ one.

Yugi clicked back to the message and felt no small amount of relief that Jou had sent it in their private chat. It was probably only a matter of time before everyone else got their hands on it, but at least he didn’t have to deal with everyone at once. Yugi scrubbed a hand over his eyes and forced himself to sit up and deal with this. He glanced at the time. He wasn’t entirely sure why he bothered, though, it was too early for this no matter what the clock might have said.

‘ _We went dancing last night. Goofed around. Someone picked the wrong time for a picture. You know how it is.’_

The answer was immediate. ‘ _I dunno, you look pretty damn pleased w urself. You got the hots for ur bodyguard or what lol’_

Yugi groaned. Jou wasn’t wrong. Even blurry, you could see that there was a look of peaceful bliss on his face. ‘ _Yeah yeah, tell it to the press. You know he’s dating already Ryou._ ’

‘ _THATS NOT A NO’_

Yugi smacked a hand to his own forehead. Too. Early. For this. He sent Jou a string of carefully-selected emojis and chucked his phone on the bed. He glared when it chirped at him again before it even fully settled on the covers. Rude. Even still, he grabbed it up, ready to fend off Jou’s teasing.

His chest froze when he saw it was a notification from Ryou. Ten minutes ago, he would have been thrilled. Now, he felt a creeping sense of foreboding. He clicked. 

Attached was a screenshot of the same picture, with a heart-eyed emoji attached. ‘ _Hey, you two look hot together. Nice!’_. Yugi was still trying to figure out how to respond to that when another message came in. ‘ _Maybe I should start duelling again. I want my glamour shots too! :’(’_

Yugi shook his head with a deep sense of relief, feeling stupid. Of course Ryou wouldn’t be upset. Those two were probably having the time of their lives laughing over his sudden new predicament.

As if on cue, another message came through. ‘ _HEY BOSS DO I GET A RAISE’_ Kek hadn’t used any emojis, but Yugi could still practically see the shit-eating grin on his face as he tapped out a reply.

‘ _You can have a raise if you explain this to Atem later today._ ’

The answer was swift. ‘ _nvm I’m good.’_ Followed a few seconds later by an add-on: ‘ _Ryou is laughing at me. He says good luck and that we will leave you alone now. Bossy little bastard.’_

Yugi smiled at his phone. ‘ _Thanks guys. At least going to see Atem won’t make it any worse, right?_ ’ He clicked the phone off and stretched. Well, that was one crisis avoided, anyways.

He set about getting ready for the day. Stupid invasive photos or not, he’d promised to meet Atem at the game shop later to take a little tour of all the new games. That part of the afternoon, at least, should still be fun. Even if explaining the photo wouldn’t be. He winced at the very thought.

His mind drifted as he tried to get his hair to cooperate after collapsing into his bed without taking care of it properly yesterday. Thoughts of the night out were still fresh on his mind, and he had to admit a part of him wished he had just stayed the night and tried to hold on to those feelings a little longer. He set the brush down and gave himself a stern glare in the mirror. No, that would have felt like crossing a line that he wasn’t sure he was allowed to cross. And besides, that picture making the rounds was enough to deal with in one day. He didn’t even want to think about what sort of selfie Kek would have sent if that text had come in while they were all still together.

He hurried out the door to catch the train to the game shop. He hadn’t really stopped to consider how fast this particular rumour would spread, so the first voice was a surprise.

“Mr. Mutou, are the rumours true?”

He turned to see a reporter eagerly holding out his phone for comment. A glance around showed a distressing number of others quickly closing ranks. The options for a quick escape were disappearing in a hurry. As he tried to navigate his way away from the encroaching crowd, he couldn’t decide if he desperately wished Kek were here to help deflect them, or if he was immensely glad that he _wasn’t_. A reporter stepped into his path, blocking his last decent escape route. The brief pause in his movement was all that they needed to surround him, and the questions started flying.

“Yugi! This latest photo seems to prove that….”

“What’s your response to the pictures recently leaked of your illicit affair with….”

“So what’s he like in bed??”

Yugi whirled on them, startling several of them backwards as they tried to avoid making physical contact. “Would you please let me pass. I’m on my way out, I don’t have time for questions.”

One of the crowd pushed forward a little too close, grin plastered from ear to ear. “But Yugi! We just want to finally know if you’re dating or not, we-”

That was enough of that. Yugi scowled at them and snapped back. “And so what if we are? It’s none of your damn business, please just leave me alone!” The outburst seemed to stun the crowd into stillness for a second, and Yugi took his chance. He pushed through and all but bolted towards the station, hopping onto the first train to arrive.

He slumped into a seat and took a few deep breaths to calm down. It was around this time that his stupid, _useless_ brain caught up with his mouth. Yugi groaned aloud, ignoring the odd stares he got for the noise. What a mess. He wanted to crawl back into his bed and never emerge. Or maybe cocoon over at Ryou and Kek’s place forever and go out only for dancing. That would be alright, too.

Yugi hauled his phone out and sent a pre-emptive message to the group chat. ‘ _No. Just… no. Don’t read too much into anything you hear for the next few hours.’_ He ignored the series of question marks he got from a few people in return and just typed back ‘ _you’ll know it when you see it. It’s been a stupid morning._ ’

That done, he opened the chat with Kek and Ryou. _‘Oh shit you guys I’m so sorry, I just made it worse.’_ He bounced a foot as he waited for the reply, and as soon as he had their attention the dumped the whole story. ‘ _I’m so sorry, I wasn’t even thinking, I just wanted them to GO AWAY and now it’s all messed up._ ’

He watched the three dots on the bottom of the screen with trembling fingers. An accidental out-of-context photo was one thing. Starting rumours himself was something else entirely. Ryou’s reply came in first.

‘ _Omg that sounds like it was awful. :( I take back wanting my glamour shots. As to Kek, I don’t mind lending my boyfriend out. ;) Actually, please do come over tonight and take care of some of his cuddling for me so I can finish painting this figurine, I need the time. We can figure it what to do about the press from there._ ’

Kek’s reply showed up not long after, much shorter and to the point. ‘ _Stop being your own bodyguard, I like my job. Also: Rude, Ry. Suffer through my affection like a man._ ’

Yugi burst into helpless giggles as water collected at the corners of his eyes. It was going to be ok. He hadn’t irrevocably screwed things up. What they were going to do about the semi-confirmed rumours, he had no idea, but at least they were willing to talk with him. He really wasn’t sure he’d have been able to handle it if they weren’t. He took a few shuddering breaths and agreed to meeting up tonight to plan.

That done, he let his head fall back on the seat with a thump, already dreading the conversation to come with Atem. Ugh, never _ever_ say ‘it can’t get any worse’. _Dumbass._

* * *

Yugi knocked on the door, weary. It had been a long day after a late night, and he was exhausted. But he couldn’t put off talking to Ryou and Kek. As he had figured, all the gossip sites were full of splashy pages about his ‘new beau’ within an hour of his little outburst. His friends had been alternating between teasing him mercilessly and jokingly congratulating him all day. And the afternoon with Atem had been interesting, to say the least.

But now he was here. So that was something. The scent of freshly-baked sweets wafted out of the door when Kek opened it, and Yugi couldn’t help but smile.

“I don’t know if that smell is for me, but Ryou’s gotta share either way.”

“Heh, I think that’s the plan. Ryou’s answer to most problems is baking.”

“You poor thing. How do you survive?”

Kek patted a hand on his flat stomach. “Barely.”

They were still snickering when they walked into the kitchen to find Ryou plating a little mound of cookies.

“Hello, Yugi. I see you survived. I have cookies!”

Yugi chuckled at the enthusiasm. “Yeah, I smelled that as soon as Kek let me in. These look amazing, Ryou. Thanks.” He settled heavily on one of the chairs, and fiddled aimlessly with a cookie as he waited for the others to settle in across from him. “So.”

“So.” Ryou leaned back, munching thoughtfully on a cookie. “Operation loan-a-boyfriend.”

Yugi choked. “You’re not serious.”

Kek tipped his chair back on its hind legs and laced his fingers behind his head. “Sure he is. Why not? The press already thinks it, maybe it’ll get them the hell off your back about it for once.”

“You have no idea what you’re signing up for.”

“Sure I do. Cute Bonus Boyfriend. Find me the downside.” Kek’s grin was extremely self-satisfied.

Yugi shook his head in exasperation. “The media will start to bug you, too. And if they find out about Ryou, I don’t even want to think about what a field day they’d have with that.”

“Let ‘em. Not our problem.”

Yugi gave him a sceptical look. “Well your tune sure has changed. Remember when you were trying to avoid _anyone_ knowing about you?”

Kek shrugged. “Old news. The secret is out, and the people who were most likely to make an issue out of it don’t seem to care. And besides, people being a little scared of me is just part of the job, now.”

“But still -”

Ryou leaned forward, cutting in. “We talked about this a bit before you got here, Yugi. Kek and I were very careful for a long time. It’s not a big deal to just… kinda go back to that for a while, you know? Taking the mystery of your dating life away from the press might actually mean they’ll drop it after a while. Old news and all that.”

Yugi let out a deep sigh, conflicted. Trying to go back on what he said would be tricky, to say the least. He was sure that even with the most water-tight excuse possible they wouldn’t believe him, and if he denied it outright they’d just switch their focus from wild guesses about his bedroom antics to pestering the both of them to ‘confess’. But going ahead with a fake boyfriend to shut them up didn’t sound all that safe either. Or fair to Ryou and Kek, despite what they said.

Not to mention more excuses to act affectionate with Kek might not be the best thing for his sanity, after last night. Damn it.

Kek tipped his chair back to the floor with a bang. “Well, I don’t hear much of an argument, so that’s that. Not much’ll change anyways, I’ll just pinch you on the ass as you walk by or something and call it a day.”

Ryou burst out into laughter while Yugi sputtered. These two would be the death of him at this rate.

“Great. Done.” Kek leaned forward with a devilish grin. “Soooo… Did you have fun with Atem today?”

Ryou smacked Kek in the shoulder and rolled his eyes. “He’s been snickering to himself all day about that. He’s getting way too much enjoyment out of this.” Kek just grinned and blew him a kiss, then turned expectantly towards Yugi. He tried to wait out the silence, but Kek was determined. Finally, Yugi huffed out a sigh and relented.

“Ugh, fine. It’s the least I can do for my new ‘boyfriend’”.

“Damn right it is.”

Yugi shot him a mock glare and made a point of slowly finishing his cookie morsel by morsel before continuing, then licking each crumb off his fingertips. Ryou looked like he was barely containing himself as he watched Kek slowly fume. “You two are cute. Perfect couple, honestly.”

Yugi chucked a balled-up napkin at Ryou for good measure, then turned to Kek. “It was as weird as you were probably hoping it would be. Atem got all parental and protective, it was so _awkward_. He was all concerned about how this would affect the two of you. I think he believed you were both OK by the end, but ugh. Weirdest day ever.”

“You poor thing.” Kek’s grin was vicious. “Want a kiss to make it better?”

Yugi did his very best to wither the smirking asshole into a new ghoul for Ryou’s deck with his glare alone. All he got for his trouble was a laugh.

“Aw, you’re no fun.”

“Speaking of fun – ” Ryou paused, waiting for their attention, then turned to Yugi. “Aside from all this, we’ve been meaning to invite you to join our Monster World campaign. You know, if you’d like to. We’ve been thinking of inviting you for a while anyways, and now that you’re officially dating one of us it just makes sense.” Ryou’s smile was sweet and hopeful, but the little glint in his eye gave Yugi pause.

The problem with Ryou, Yugi mused, was that sometimes he could tease you horribly, but with such an innocent look that it was hard to tell if he was doing it on purpose or not. Kek, at least, was easy to read in that way. True to form, he snickered.

“Yeah, date nights are important, Yugi honey.”

Yugi turned his glare back on. “…I want a divorce.”

“ _When did we get married?!_ ” Kek’s cackling rang through the kitchen. “I must have been drunk as hell at the ceremony, I don’t even remember. Ryou, were you my best man or Yugi’s?”

Ryou just rolled his eyes expansively at the pair of them. “ _Any_ ways… Monster World? What do you think?” A hint of a smirk crossed his face. “You can create a character specifically to be a pain in his illusionist’s ass if you want. My mage could use the company.”

“Hey!”

They both cheerfully ignored Kek’s objection. Yugi shrugged a little helplessly and then nodded. “Yeah, sure. It would be nice to play something different for a change.”

Ryou shone with happiness. “Oh I’m so glad! It will be nice to have another player, and it’s a good excuse to see more of you, besides.”

“Yeah, we’re greedy bastards.” Kek punctuated the point by shoving another whole cookie into his mouth.

“Well, I’m flattered to be invited. I know how important that game is to you.”

“You’re important to us, too.” Ryou smiled, eyes gleaming. “So! What sort of character are you going to play?” He twisted around a produced a set of character sheets as though from nowhere.

Yugi glanced over at Kek, who shrugged and grabbed another cookie. Yugi shook his head affectionately and turned to lean over the stats sheets Ryou was already explaining a mile a minute. Time to adjust to yet another new normal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And finally, things get interesting. Haha!
> 
> [ Tumblr ](https://mainstream-deviant.tumblr.com/)


	8. A New Normal

Yugi had to grudgingly admit that Ryou and Kek had been right; not a lot had changed now that he and Kek were “dating”. Kek made a point of finding excuses to touch him in public – and Yugi had gotten very used to enjoying his hand on the small of his back to guide him from place to place, damn it all – and they smiled at one another more often than they had when they were playing it strictly professional, but the day to day work hadn’t changed much. The transition had been about as hard as playing a one-step spell card.

The most dramatic thing that had happened was when Kek had dealt with one of the more overly intrusive reporters by snarling “you don’t seriously want to cause _more_ problems now that you know how important he is to me, do you?”, and all that had done was end the pestering a whole lot faster than normal. It was a nice bonus that someone else had gotten a great shot of them smiling at each other while he squeezed Kek’s hand in thanks afterwards, and gleefully promoted the fall of their nosy journalistic rival. For all that tournament reporters were still eager to get “cute” pictures of them, they really backed off of prying so aggressively into his love life. It was a relief.

And if the casual touching had started to leak into daily life even outside the spotlight, well, that was just a bonus. It’s not like Ryou wasn’t doing it too.

Monster World, Yugi had come to learn, was just as serious a business in Ryou’s life now as it had been way back when he first introduced it – though thankfully significantly less death-defying this time around. Their games were intense, full of laughter and indignant shouting. At one point, Kek had rolled… poorly… and Ryou, as DM, had come up with a particularly nasty consequence involving the creative use of horned toads. Kek had chucked some popcorn at Ryou in revenge, and Yugi had leapt up to grab Ryou around the waist to swing him behind him, playing the hero against the ‘evil popcorn bandit’. The game had to go on hold while Yugi and Ryou huddled up together behind a couch cushion and Kek laid siege to them. It had been worth every minute of clean-up afterwards. Kek still threateningly held up a single piece of popcorn whenever Ryou had to come up with the consequences of a fumble roll. It didn’t do a single thing to deter Ryou, of course, but he tried.

Ryou also had the delightful habit of excitedly throwing his arms around anyone that rolled really well. As a side effect, Yugi would be willing to bet he could pick out his shampoo at the supermarket by scent alone at this point. Mmm.

Speaking of Ryou, he was due to arrive at any time. As part of ‘keeping up appearances’, they had been spending more and more time in one apartment or the other after Yugi’s appearances or events. Kek had walked Yugi home today for an evening of gaming and naturally, Ryou joined them whenever he could.

Yugi was busy chopping veggies when the doorbell rang, so Kek leapt up to get the door. Quiet hellos filtered in from the doorway, following by an exaggerated ‘ _mwwwwah!_ ’ sound from Kek and a burst of laughter from Ryou. Yugi smiled fondly. A part of him would probably always be amazed that there was such a goofy side to Kek. He was honoured that he was one of, as far as he knew, only two people who really got to see the depths of it.

He glanced up as Ryou entered the kitchen, bag of extra ingredients in hand.

“Missing ingredients, as requested!” Ryou set the bag on the counter and then leaned forward to peck a playful kiss to Yugi’s cheek. It was a point of no small pride for Yugi that he didn’t flush horribly when Ryou joked around like that anymore. He side-eyed Ryou.

“Watch it, you’re going to make my boyfriend jealous.”

There was a snort to his other side. “Nah, I’m ok.” Kek cozied up to him and smacked a loud kiss to his other cheek.

That was enough to make Yugi sputter and fumble the knife a bit before setting it down safely on the cutting board. “You two really are going to be the death of me, you know that?”

“Yep.” Ryou and Kek looked surprised to have spoken in unison, and then all three of them broke down in laughter.

Yugi recovered first and waved at the new bag of ingredients. “Ok, but seriously, someone help me chop this stuff up or we’re never going to eat.”

Kek slowly reigned himself in and patted Yugi on the shoulder before he and Ryou joined in the food prep. They fell into familiar idle chatter as they worked. The weirdest part about these new routines, really, was that they didn’t feel weird. Or even new. Just like… maybe like things were back to normal, or something, except that the whole experience was technically new? The whole thing made Yugi’s head spin in a way that not even a ten-card, 6-turn combo could manage.

But homemade ramen was good, and more specifically homemade ramen with Ryou’s handmade noodles was good, and _that_ he could wrap his head around no problem.

* * *

Laughter split the air as the three of them walked down the sidewalk together. The whole gang was gathering at Duke’s shop for game night. Really it was just long overdue, but that didn’t stop Duke from claiming it was because ‘ _we need to check on how Yugi’s new romance is going with our own eyes’_ , much to everyone else’s amusement and Yugi’s fond exasperation.

Kek hadn’t even needed any special convincing this time. In fact, when the text had come in, he’d read it over Ryou’s shoulder with a kind of quiet happiness and decreed that the group was “alright” so he wouldn’t mind going again. Both Ryou and Yugi had beamed at him, but Yugi had managed to resist joining Ryou as he pounced on him with happy kisses. He may or may not have fantasized about it though. His imagination was having way too much fun with that sort of nonsense lately. And the fact that he was currently happily sandwiched between them on the sidewalk, arm linked with Ryou’s as Kek gesticulated wildly to help describe the latest scene is his new video game, didn’t do much to deter his traitorous mind either. Ryou’s skin was distractingly soft, and Kek’s manic grin almost upsettingly charming.

But anyways. Games. Yes. Focus. Focus is good.

When they arrived, he slipped his arm out of Ryou’s to file through the door after the others. Kek fell into step beside Duke as he led the way to the game room, and Duke prodded him in the shoulder with a wicked grin.

“So, I hear you’re collecting all the cute boys, now.”

Kek levelled him with a flat, serious look. “Yep. All mine.”

Otogi gaped wordlessly for a second, glancing back and forth between the them, apparently struggling to figure out whether he was kidding or not. Kek let him squirm until he looked ready to ask Yugi for clarification, then cut across Duke’s unasked question with one of his own, snarky grin firmly in place.

“How’s _your_ dating life going? Figure that guy out yet?”

Duke’s gaze snapped back to Kek, and anyone else would have been intimidated by the piercing look. There was a beat of silence before he replied in which Yugi barely held back his snickering. “… I liked you better when you were in your awkward phase, you know that?”

Kek’s laughter rang down the hallway to warn the others they were coming. “It’s that bad? Ouch.”

“It’s not _bad_ , I just…”

Yugi snickered to himself and then turned to Ryou to start plotting which games they would play first. Their fingers laced together by force of habit as they talked.

“Ah Aibou, you’re here!”

Yugi gave Ryou’s fingers a last squeeze before letting go and turning to Atem. “Hey, Atem. Sorry we’re a little late.” He reached forward to give his partner a warm hug.

“Hello, Atem.” Ryou waved behind him.

Atem nodded in greeting. “And hello to you, Ryou. You are well?”

“Yep! We were glad to be invited back. Kek didn’t say so, but I think he was really pleased.” Ryou smiled fondly over his shoulder, where Kek had pulled Tristan into his banter with Duke about his supposed dating problems.

“Of course. It’s gratifying to see someone else join our group of friends. He seems to be doing well.”

“Yes, he-” Ryou was cut off by Kek hollering for his attention. “Oh. Excuse me, Atem. Yugi. I’ll see you later.” He hurried off to join the other conversation and was promptly scooped into Kek’s side. Atem watched this with interest before turning his gaze back to Yugi.

“I see you arrived with Ryou and Kek again, Aibou.”

“Uh… yeah? That was the plan. Ryou fed us stew after the signing this afternoon.”

There was a pause, and Yugi could see Atem carefully crafting and re-crafting the words in his mouth before pushing them out. “You seem to be very… familiar, with them both. Are you quite certain you have nothing more interesting to report?”

Yugi did his best to school his face into something neutral and reassuring, but Atem knew every nuance of his face so well it was probably futile. Still, it was worth the attempt. “Yes, Atem, I’m very sure, thanks.” Atem raised an eyebrow. So much for neutral. Well, he had tried. “It’s fine. I’m fine. Go play a game with Duke or something.” He nudged Atem in the general direction of laughter and banter across the room.

Atem opened his mouth, likely to make Yugi’s life more awkward by ‘helping’ with his ‘relationships’, which Yugi found endlessly entertaining since Atem’s status seemed to be permanently stuck on ‘it’s complicated’. Fortunately for them both, that was the moment that Jou burst into the room, arms full of various snacks.

“Alright! We got plenty o’ food now!” He dumped the lot haphazardly on the table in the middle of the room and enthusiastically ignored Duke’s grumbling about taking up the entire table for snacks. “Yug! You got here! ‘Bout time!” He scooped Yugi up into a tight squeeze before waving across the room. “An’ you guys too! Hey Kek, hey Ryou!” Ryou waved back but Kek just raised an eyebrow and pointedly flexed his bicep. Jou pouted. “You oughta tell your boyfriend to be nicer to me, Yug.”

“Sadly, he’s not actually my boyfriend, Jou, sorry.” Yugi shrugged. “You’re on your own.”

“Aw man!” He strode over to Ryou and flung an arm around his shoulders. “Well Ryou’ll help, right, buddy?”

Ryou laughed as they all gathered together near the games. “I wouldn’t do anything about Kek’s arms even if I could, Jou.” He blushed when Duke wolf whistled. “Well, I wouldn’t. They’re comfortable.”

Jou groaned. “How come nobody’s ever on my side, huh?”

“Keh, I’m just being a good employee, that’s all. Wouldn’t want any weirdos to bother my boss, so I need to look intimidating.” Kek wound an arm around Yugi’s shoulders and pulled him firmly to his side. He glanced down with a wicked grin. “Right boss?”

“Uh-huh, sure.” He held Kek’s gaze steadily, then shot a finger up to bop him on the nose. “Boop.”

Kek sputtered and pulled back. “Employee abuse. It’s gotta be.”

“There are worse things I could do.”

Kek stared at him. Yugi stared back. Kek frowned. “You wouldn’t.”

Yugi practically beamed, eyes crinkling at the corners with the force of his smile. There was a general rumbling of laughter from the onlookers as Kek quickly slunk around the group to wrap his arms around Ryou from behind. “Ryou, save me.”

Ryou laughed and patted Kek’s hands where they lay on his stomach. “Yes, dear. I’ll protect you from the man half your size. No problem.” Kek groaned and buried his face in Ryou’s hair as the group laughed.

Yugi took a second to enjoy the cute picture Kek and Ryou made cuddled up like that, then took pity on them and brought his hands together with a smack to get everyone’s attention. “So, other than bugging Kek, what are we playing tonight?”

Thankfully, everyone took the hint and turned their attention to picking out games. Yugi and Jou were sent back to the table to clear off enough space to play whatever they decided on.

Yugi was trying to figure out where the third bowl of chips could possibly go when Jou sidled up next to him.

“Hey, you still practicing or somethin’?”

“Huh?”

“You know… ” Yugi did not, in fact, know, and just looked at Jou curiously until he continued with a roll of his eyes. “With Kek. You’re lookin’ pretty cozy, y’know. You still practicing for the press or whatever? ‘Cause I think you got it down, Yug.”

Yugi blinked. “What? No, we’re not practicing. Why would we be fake-dating when we’re just hanging out with friends?”

Jou blinked right back. “Wait, so that’s just… how you guys are? Seriously?”

“Um… yes?” Yugi felt increasingly awkward under Jou’s gaze. “What?”

“You _sure_ you’re just pretendin’ to date?”

Yugi rolled his eyes fondly. “Yes, I’m sure. I think I’d notice if they were really my boyfriends, Jou.”

Jou goggled. “Wait wait wait, it’s ‘they’ now? When did that happen?”

Yugi beat down his encroaching blush with all the fury of the god cards themselves. “Nothing _happened_. The three of us hang out a lot, it was a slip of the tongue. Forget I said anything.”

Jou’s skeptical look was piercing, and Yugi shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. “I dunno, Yug - You’re all bein’ really touchy-feely with each other lately…”

Yugi huffed. “Jou, I’m like that with everyone. I hug you and Atem all the time.”

“Well yeah, I guess, but-”

“Hey Yugi, we need to get stuff on the table.” Kek appeared behind Yugi and laid a hand on the small of his back. “Out of the way, squirt.” Yugi huffed but let himself be guided by Kek’s gentle pressure. Kek leaned right over him to place the box he was carrying on the table with more care than it really needed. He smiled at Yugi before turning around to go get another load. The hand on the small of his back lingered the entire time, and trailed slowly away as he left.

Jou watched Kek go. “Yeah, ‘cause that was totally ‘friendly’.” 

Yugi huffed, frantically shoving away the unhelpful images his imagination was spewing out for his viewing pleasure. “That’s just… he’s figuring out how to be nice, Jou.”

“Uh-huh.” Jou nodded pointedly over Yugi’s shoulder, where Kek was doing almost the exactly same thing to Ryou as he reached around him for another game. “ _Very_ friendly. That’s a special brand o’ nice, Yug.”

Yugi found himself smiling as Ryou pecked Kek on the cheek, firmly ignoring the bit of his brain reminding him he’d missed the chance to do exactly that himself. “We’re friends, Jou. We just spend a lot of time together, between hanging out and being together at events now. That’s all.”

Jou still looked extremely skeptical, but let it drop with a shake of his head. “Whatever you say, Yug.”

Yugi smiled gratefully, and they settled in with the others to play. Everyone fell easily into the routine of friendly competition. Challenges and insults were hurled. Victories were cheered. Defeats were bemoaned. He didn’t notice Jou and Atem mumbling to each other across the table, shooting him searching looks. Nor did he notice how he slowly gravitated toward Ryou so they could use each other’s shoulders as something to hold onto whenever they leaned over the table to place their next game pieces. Kek’s teasing and poking faded into the hubbub of the night, and so he didn’t really notice its frequency. And he certainly didn’t notice his friends noticing these things, snickering good-naturedly behind his back as he considered his next move. No, as far as Yugi was determined to believe, it was a nice, normal night out. With friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yugi is a Very Good Friend(tm). :)
> 
> [ Tumblr ](https://mainstream-deviant.tumblr.com/)


	9. The Penny Drops

Yugi took a deep breath of the fresh evening air as he walked towards Ryou’s place. Tonight, the three of them were going to hang out and work their way through as many movies as they could before they were ready to pass out. Given that Ryou was involved in the movie selection, some of them were probably going to be creepy. But maybe that would give him an excuse to snuggle up with one of them. Or maybe both. They could wrap their arms around each other and pillow their heads together, and then…

And that’s where that train of thought is going to end. Yugi knew he really needed to get a handle on that before he embarrassed himself, especially if even his friends were noticing. The last thing he wanted was to make Ryou and Kek feel uncomfortable.

Fortunately, he knew for a fact that accepting Ryou’s welcoming hugs at the door wasn’t uncomfortable, so he leaned in close and inhaled the familiar scent of Ryou’s hair as it tickled his nose. And neither was letting Kek loop his arm around his shoulders to guide him to the livingroom, so he playfully nudged Kek in the side as they wandered down the hallway and leaned comfortably into his warmth. 

A pile of snacks and movies were already strewn out on the table. Kek flopped on the couch next to Yugi and nudged an old movie case towards him.

“Here, we picked out this one special, just for you.”

Yugi eyed the couple smiling on the cover, and the bright pink wording. “Pretty Woman. This is a romcom.” He turned his gaze on Kek. “That’s, um… an interesting choice?”

Kek cackled. “It’s homework!!”

Ryou snickered along with his partner. “Yeah, everything you need to know about fake dating.” Yugi groaned and rolled his eyes as Kek continued.

“Except this dude hires a prostitute, not a bodyguard. It’s a good thing I’m not a hooker, you’d never be able to afford me.” He paused, and a grin spread across his face. “Or maybe you’d find a way, because I’m just such a catch.” Kek waggled his eyebrows and licked his lips with a grin.

Yugi held his gaze for a second before a stray thought popped into his head and he burst out laughing, dropping the case and curling in on himself as he did. He could hear Kek’s indignant noises through this laughter, and worked hard to get control of himself before any misunderstandings settled in. He reached out to clutch at Kek’s arm. “Oh man, no, I’m sorry, I’m not laughing at you I promise, you’re definitely a catch.” He squeezed Kek’s arm comfortingly and tried to suck in more air to calm himself. “Any man is lucky to have you. It’s just…” He broke down laughing again, and had to stop and take a few deep breaths before looking up to catch Ryou’s eye. “Can you _imagine_ what the tabloids would say if he showed up in those thigh-high leather boots and a miniskirt for the next event? Especially with the rumours they already spread about me? They’d have a field day!”

Both Ryou and Kek joined his laughter. “I’ll have you know I’d rock ‘em. And still intimidate the crap out of anyone bothering you, too.” Yugi nodded in agreement, and Kek held out an expectant hand. “So pay up.”

Yugi wrestled his laugher under control and stared at Kek’s hand with excessively serious consideration as they listened to Ryou still snickering in the background. Then, very formally, he reached out to grab a single potato chip and place it reverently in Kek’s open palm.

“There. What’ll that get me?”

Kek considered the chip, weighing it in his hand like some sort of snack-food prospector. Yugi was having a hard time keeping a straight face, and he could hear Ryou falling back into hysterics. Finally, Kek seemed to make a decision and popped the chip in his mouth with a loud crunch. “Here.” He leaned forward and very carefully rolled up the front half of his pant leg. Just once. It didn’t even show any new skin. He held it out for their inspection, preening. “Your purchase.”

Yugi held it together for about half a second longer before losing it entirely, along with Ryou. It was some time before they all calmed down enough to actually talk again.

“Ok, seriously though, what are we going to watch?”

Kek grinned. “What, you don’t think we need the homework?”

“No, sweetiepie, I think we’re good.”

Kek grimanced. “I’ll pay you to never call me that again.”

Yugi held out his hand expectantly, and was not disappointed. He happily crunched the single chip Kek handed him, grinning from ear to ear.

Ryou rolled his eyes at their antics. “If you two are _quite_ finished, I think I have something good to watch over here…”

And he did, too. The three of them settled easily onto the couch together and time drifted by in a pleasant haze as they moved from film to film. Yugi couldn’t help but be quietly thrilled he’d ended up in the middle. They often ended up leaning over to jab at one another for a misplaced comment or to squabble over the best snacks. Yugi soaked in the warmth of the bodies on either side of him and slipped into a kind of quiet contentment.

Later in the evening – or, maybe, that should be early in the morning? - the exhaustion of the week finally started to settle in, and Ryou tipped over to lean on his shoulder with a drowsy little hum. Yugi glanced over at Kek, ready to offer to switch spots or, if he really had to, excuse himself entirely. The very thought made his heart clench in a way he was studiously ignoring, but he’d rally the strength to leave if they asked.

Kek just smiled at them both and reached over to run a loving hand over Ryou’s head when he yawned and settled down further. Yugi was nowhere near dumb enough to argue with that, so he shifted to let Ryou get more comfortable, enjoying the feeling of warmth from Kek’s arm still laying behind them. This was nice. He let his thoughts drift away from the movie entirely, utterly content and entertaining idle fantasies of this lasting forever.

He tried to focus again when he registered the sound of a bird chirping. What the hell was a bird doing chirping at two in the – wait. Oh shit, the sun was up. Oh _shit_ , he was snuggled right down onto Kek’s chest where he’d apparently fallen asleep, with Ryou pressed into his other side and snuffling quietly as he slept. Yugi froze. Oh, this was bad, this was so not in the range of good friends or even fake dating, this was definitely…

Kek shifted ever so slightly, humming softly in his sleep before settling, one arm still slung protectively over them both. Yugi took a deep breath and forced his tense muscles to relax a bit. That done, he tried to really think about the situation he’d found himself in rather than skipping straight to panic mode.

Breathe.

Ok, so this was kind of perfect. At some point, Kek had turned off the TV and just let them sleep on. Yugi was warm and comfortable on the couch, surrounded by people who had become more precious to him than he’d ever admit aloud. He let out a slow rush of air. OK, so this may be over the line, but surely that meant he should take the chance while he had it. Plus, it would be rude to freak out and disturb the others, who were sleeping so peacefully. Right?

Right.

Strategic genius.

Yugi relaxed fully again, and let himself settle back onto Kek’s warm chest. Ryou had wrapped an arm firmly around his waist at some point in the night, and he laid a hand over Ryou’s to anchor him further before closing his eyes, smiling quietly to himself. Just a few minutes. No one had to know.

It was just about then that he registered Kek’s fingers moving gently but deliberately back and forth along his arm. Well shit.

He was still trying to kickstart his brain and come up with something to say other than just asking for more cuddling (and his useless brain wasn’t big on those sorts of ideas just now) when he heard Kek mumble softly into his hair.

“G’mornin’.” Yugi didn’t answer, feeling deeply unsure about the whole situation. Kek didn’t seem bothered, at least…? “I know you’re awake, Yugi, I felt your little freak out.”

So much for not disturbing anyone. Yugi let out a deep breath, and stubbornly kept his eyes closed so he could enjoy the feeling of Kek’s trailing fingers for just a second more before facing reality. Just one. The universe could give him that much. Then he carefully tilted his head up to look at Kek, trying not to let the disappointment of the moment’s abrupt end show on his face. They stared quietly at each other for a while, and Yugi frantically tried to come up with what to say to his friend and employee, who also occasionally pretended to be dating him, while pillowed on his chest and being cuddled by his boyfriend from behind. There most definitely wasn’t a spell card for that.

Kek beat him to it, mumbling softly into the air between them.

“So, I’ve been wondering for a while now...” Kek carefully maneuvered his free arm to push a stray clump of bangs out of Yugi’s face. “What’s your policy on kissing employees?”

It was no small feat that Yugi didn’t jump out of his skin. For that matter, it was probably something of a miracle that his eyes didn’t bug right out of their sockets, either. He gaped wordlessly at Kek, who simply kept smiling at him in a sleepy, early-morning sort of way. He scrambled for a response. Something. Anything. Come on, brain, _words_! He opened his mouth.

“Um…”

Kek’s grin widened just a fraction. “That’s not a ‘no’.”

Yugi was still trying to come up with a coherent response when he felt the warm press of lips on his, and all the spinning gears in his mind ground to a sudden, blissful stop.

Oh. Well ok then. To hell with thinking, this was way better.

He tilted his face up, pressing back eagerly. He dimly noticed that Kek’s lips were chapped, and that his breath was warm on his face, and that these things were good. Yeah, this was definitely good.

He felt the arm around his waist twitch and heard a grumbling from behind him as their movements disturbed Ryou’s sleep. Yugi quickly pulled his lips away and whirled to face Ryou’s warm, drowsy eyes blinking open. He felt the gears stuttering as they tried to whir back to life, still mostly occupied with the thought of Kek’s warm lips, and urged them to move faster. Despite his urging, Ryou’s eyes focused on the scene long before he could figure out what to do.

Fortunately, Ryou seemed to have no such problem processing the sight before him. He blinked at them, and then a bright grin spread across his face.

“Oh _finally_ , it’s been ridiculous watching you try to figure this out, honestly.” Yugi gaped as he felt Kek’s chest rumble with a low chuckle. “Do I finally get kisses now, too?”

Yugi must have stared in silent shock for longer than Kek was willing to put up with, because he felt a hand weave its way into his hair and jiggle his head in an awkward nodding motion. Ryou giggled while Yugi batted Kek’s hand away and shot him a disgruntled look.

Kek didn’t look sorry in the least. “Just trying to help you out.” Yugi poked his tongue out at Kek before facing Ryou again, who was staring at him expectantly. He stumbled over his words, but at least his vocal cords seemed to finally be working.

“Um… if you want?”

Ryou’s smile shone. “Of _course_ I want!” And with that, he lunged forward to meet Yugi in a kiss.

This kiss was considerably more awake than the last one, but it was a lot harder to keep contact because they both couldn’t stop smiling. Ryou’s lips were soft and full, and when Yugi curled a hand around Ryou’s head to pull him closer, his hair was smooth and familiar between his fingers. Yugi hummed happily into the kiss. This was _so_ good.

They pulled away, though Ryou stole one more quick peck for good measure before letting Yugi go entirely. Ryou beamed at them both before throwing his arms around whatever he could reach and squeezing. Yugi grabbed him back, and clutched at Kek’s hand when it appeared to hold them both from behind. Yugi thought his head might explode from everything that had just happened, and he didn’t give even half a fuck. It was a worthwhile sacrifice.

When Ryou disentangled himself, it was to shoot Yugi a cheeky grin. “You do realize we’ve been dating for a while now, right?”

Yugi felt a flood of blood rush to his cheeks as Kek laughed cheerfully behind him. “Well, I didn’t want to assume that… um…”

Kek’s laughter intensified. “Ryou! We did it! We found something the almighty King of Games fails at!” Yugi elbowed him in the ribs, but it did nothing to curb his laughter.

“Rude.” Yugi rolled his eyes when Kek continued to chuckle behind him. “Fine, I guess Ryou gets all the kisses, then.” He stretched forward to kiss Ryou’s laughing mouth and make good on the threat.

“Hey! Oh, no you don’t. Share!” Kek sat right up and dislodged Yugi entirely as he lunged towards them, trying his best to lay kisses on both of them at the same time.

There was a lot of shrieking and laughing and discovering how various spare body parts felt under lips before they settled back down again, warm and content.

Best. Morning. Ever.

Yugi’s phone chirped with an incoming message, and he glared at it. Whatever that was, he didn’t want to deal with it until he’d had his fill of basking in the glow of his new – well, apparently not-so-new? – boyfriends. And even thinking that word made him feel giddy. So – basically never.

Kek reached out towards the phone. “Here, gimme that.”

Ryou was closest, so he grabbed it and passed it over to Kek. Yugi shot him a questioning look. “What are you planning to do with- ”

Kek grabbed Yugi to his chest, dragging Ryou along with him. “Smile!” He held out the phone and pressed an enthusiastic kiss to Yugi’s cheek as he snapped the selfie. He held the phone out for them all to see. “We look pretty good first thing in the morning, huh?”

It was a good shot. Yugi was flushing happily, one eye scrunched closed as Kek pressed the kiss to his cheek. Ryou was laughing at their antics while he and Yugi held each other close.

Yugi smiled and gave Ryou a squeeze, just because he could, now. “Yeah. Perfect.”

“Good.” Kek held the phone high up over their heads, tapping away.

Yugi yelped and made a grab for it, but Ryou shook his head. “You may as well let him, Yugi, it’s not like we’re going to keep this secret anyways.”

Yugi glanced at Ryou’s smiling face and felt his heart settle back down. Right. He was the one who was late to the party, apparently. And damn, what opportunities he’d missed. But that meant there was no need to worry about embarrassing anyone but himself, and he would take all the teasing his friends could come up with to stay right where he was as long as possible. 

“Done!” Kek tossed the phone back on Yugi’s lap. He held it up to check the damage. All Kek had done is send the selfie to the group chat, captioned simply ‘ _mine_ ’. Yugi smiled at the photo, then clicked the screen back off and chucked it on the table before settling back down on the couch to enjoy the warmth of the morning.

He would have to reply to all the messages suddenly coming through at some point, but he really was too busy for that just now. The rest of the world would come crashing in again eventually, but for now he parts he wanted most were right here, and he wasn’t going to waste one second more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who's stuck through this all the way through - your patience with Yugi is astounding, well done. ;) 
> 
> That's the end of the story, but my imagination was still spitting out post-story headcannons, so I'm putting a bunch of postscripts on tumblr [ HERE ](https://mainstream-deviant.tumblr.com/post/623385681488707584/other-duties-as-required-postscripts) if you're curious - they were too long to put in the chapter notes! 
> 
> It's been a fun ride - thanks for joining me!


End file.
